'Deliberate coverup.' Nunes says CIA withheld information from Russia collusion probe

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said Tuesday the CIA withheld information in 2018 from his panel showing concerns that Hillary Clinton's campaign may have concocted the Trump-Russia collusion narrative in 2016 to distract from her own controversies.

"The information that the intelligence community had, clearly, clearly, was information that we should have had. And because we didn't have it, it's clear that there was a deliberate coverup," Nunes told the John Solomon Reports podcast.

Nunes referenced a letter released last week by Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, detailing in brief an assessment of what the intelligence community knew but failed to tell Congress throughout the oversight investigation of the Russia-collusion case.  

The Trump administration is expected to declassify and release additional evidence supporting Ratcliffe's letter as early as this week.

"There was a mountain of evidence that the intelligence community knew about, and you know, they're supposed to speak truth to power. What it appears like is the Democratic National Committee and the Clintons and Obamas, they clearly own the I.C. agencies in this country," Nunes said. 

Nunes added he believes an "absolute clean up" of the spy agencies is the only way to save U.S. intelligence from going the way of "third world countries." 

"All these seniors officials have to be let go," the congressman said.

"It's really, really bad that this would stay hidden for so long, and they knew about it, and then they continue to try to hide this ... the D.C. apparatus has become, you know, totally partisan," he said.