GOP rep: Clash between Nunes and Schiff a ‘little difference of opinion’

A Republican lawmaker says the clash between the House Intelligence Committee’s chairman and its top Democrat is a “little difference of opinion.” 

“I think we have a different dynamic over here in the House,” Rep. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) said Thursday on CNN’s “New Day” when asked if he was envious after seeing the leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee “getting along” in a news conference.

“Chairman [Devin] Nunes and ranking member [Adam] Schiff have certainly done joint press conferences before and I suspect they will do them again,” he added.

{mosads}”I think that there’s a little difference of opinion at this point. But we’ll work through that. I think we’re fine.”

Crawford, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, pushed back at the suggestion that its work on a probe into Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election has ground to a halt. No full committee meetings are scheduled this week while public and private hearings have also been canceled. 

“The open hearing we had last week was really not very productive. I think the American people want to see open hearing simply because they want to see evidence we are doing something,” Crawford said.

“The fact is an open hearing is very challenging,” he added, pointing to the number of times FBI Director James Comey and National Security Agency Director Michael Rogers said they could not comment during questioning.

Schiff (D-Calif.) earlier this week said Nunes (R-Calif.) should recuse himself from any investigations into potential ties between members of President Trump’s campaign and Russian officials.

“After much consideration I believe Chairman should recuse himself from involvement in investigation/oversight of Trump campaign & transition,” Schiff tweeted Monday evening.

Nunes had earlier announced to the press — without telling Democrats on his committee — that members of Trump’s transition team were caught up in incidental U.S. surveillance.