A day after he made the sensational charge that President Donald Trump's transition team was being spied on by U.S. intelligence agencies, the head of the House Intelligence Committee appears to be backing off the claim.
An aide to chairman Devin Nunes said he did not know "for sure" whether conversations of transition officials were picked up in surveillance or those officials were merely talked about by others, the Los Angeles Times reports.
"He'll have to get all the documents he requested from the [intelligence community] about this before he knows for sure," spokesman Jack Langer said.
The Times calls Langer's statement "a partial walkback of Nunes' claim."
The new development comes after Nunes apologized to members of his committee for describing its surveillance findings to Trump before sharing them with the panel, either Republicans or Democrats.
Democrats say Nunes' actions show he cannot run a non-partisan investigation of Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion between Trump's team and the Kremlin.
They have asked for an independent panel to be created.
Trump, who has controversially charged that President Barack Obama last year wiretapped Trump Tower in New York City, said he felt "somewhat vindicated" by Nunes' original claim.
The wiretapping claim has been universally debunked by most U.S. intelligence officials.
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