Campaign for Accountability, a government watchdog group, has filed a second ethics complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics [OCE] against House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) in the wake of The New York Times' report that Senate Intelligence Committee leadership discovered Nunes' staff leaked private text messages to Fox News.
CfA Executive Director Daniel E. Stevens stated, “Time and time again, Rep. Nunes and his staff leak confidential information without consequence. What will it take for the House to step in and stop this clear abuse of authority?”
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HPSCI [House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence] rules specifically prohibit members of the committee and committee staff from discussing, disclosing, or causing to be discussed or disclosed “the substance of any hearing that was closed to the public . . .”
Stevens continued, “Committee members and staff are abusing their positions of public trust in an effort to create a false narrative aimed at discrediting their political enemies. This is the epitome of unethical conduct, and the House must take action to end it immediately.”
CfA filed its first complaint January after the House Intelligence Committee reportedly leaked information Fusion GPS provided about the Steele dossier.
Nunes was under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for much of last year for possibly disclosing classified information. The committee ended its probe last December, announcing it had concluded the information Nunes revealed to the public was not problematic.
However, The Atlantic revealed in January that the committee never reviewed the actual information but rather relied on analysis by classification experts to inform its decision.
Watchdog group files ethics complaint against Nunes after report of House Intel leaks (The Hill)
Campaign for Accountability Files Second Ethics Complaint Against House Intel Chair Nunes for Leaking Confidential Information (press release)
The Circumscribed Ethics Investigation Into Devin Nunes (The Atlantic)