The House Intelligence Committee has released the full transcript of what Erik Prince told them behind closed doors on November 30, 2017.
One of the most interesting discoveries for lawmakers appears to be Prince's admission that he met with Committee chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) earlier this year. Nunes is supposed to have recused himself from the Russia probe while under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for possibly leaking classified information, but he continues to stay involved and is pursuing his own, separate investigation into what he believes are illegal Obama administration "unmaskings" of Trump associates.
It is illegal for intelligence officials to reveal the names of unmasked Americans. But Republican and Democratic congressional aides told news outlets in April, shortly after Nunes stepped down from the probe, that Obama administration officials did not act inappropriately in trying to unmask officials on Trump's transition team whose conversations with foreign officials were incidentally collected during routine intelligence-gathering operations.
Prince testified about his meeting with Nunes came to be:
Prince told Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell that he "went to see [Nunes] in his office about Afghanistan."
"When was that?" Swalwell asked.
"Well, I don't know," Prince replied. "I wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal. I was asked to come into the White House a couple times to talk about that. And so it was sometime, I don't know, over the summer or early fall."
Prince's op-ed was published on May 31.
"How did unmasking come up?" Swalwell asked. "Did he bring it up, or did you?"
"No," Prince said. "I asked him what the committee was doing to investigate illegal leaks and illegal unmasking of American citizens doing business abroad. And he said: You ought to come in and talk to the committee about it sometime."
Also Business Insider:
A spokesman for Nunes did not respond to questions about whether Nunes and Prince discussed the substance of Prince's testimony, or coordinated in any way, prior to his November 30 hearing.
Devin Nunes spoke to Erik Prince about House Intel testimony despite recusal from the Russia probe (Business Insider)
Related: Who is Erik Prince?