Trump ally suspends participation in Russian Federation investigation

Nunes' announcement came on the same morning the U.S. House Ethics Committee announced it was investigating Nunes over the matter.

Nunes, who worked on Trump's transition team, is not the first Trump-affiliated Republican to step down in the Russian Federation investigation.

The House Ethics Committee issued a statement saying it would investigate allegations Nunes may have made unauthorised disclosures of classified information "in violation of House rules, law, regulations, or other standards of conduct".

Nunes said in a statement that he had chose to step aside from the Russian Federation investigation to fight the allegations and wanted "to expedite the dismissal of these false claims".

Inskeep: If [Nunes] recuses himself, he remains chairman, and so that part of his work is taken over by Mike Conaway of Texas, I guess, who's the number two guy - or Peter King of NY who's the number three guy. Gowdy, who represents Greenville and Spartanburg, will join Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Fla., in helping Conaway with the investigation. Mr Nunes admitted that he briefed Mr Trump before he talked to members of his own committee.

Nunes said that it was in the intelligence committee's best interests for him to hand over leadership of the probe to Conaway during the ethics panel's inquiry.

Schiff had called on Nunes to recuse himself. They have also accused Nunes of coordinating with the White House about the witnesses appearing before the committee, after he canceled a planned open hearing with the former director of national intelligence James R. Clapper, former CIA director John Brennan, and former acting attorney general Sally Yates.

The California Democrat said he'll continue to work with Nunes on other Intelligence Committee work and that the whole panel now has access to the documents Nunes originally viewed.

Lawmakers said Nunes' decision was welcome.

"With Respect to Representative Conaway, I look forward to joining with him and putting our investigation fully back on track", Schiff said in a statement. The committee of ethics, the guardian of congressmen's ethical behaviour, which is led by a Republican and a Democrat, said it is looking into "certain allegations of unauthorised disclosure of classified information".

The House now must strive to ensure that the joke is not on the House and that a serious investigation of Russian involvement in the U.S. elections takes place. And Trey Gowdy is a name that a lot of people may recognize.

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) said Thursday that he still has confidence in Nunes and does not think he did anything wrong. Of course the House one has been the one that has been in the most trouble.

"But until that happens, it protects the integrity of the Russian Federation investigation", she said.

Trump sparked a controversy in early March when he tweeted, without giving evidence, that Obama had wiretapped him while the NY businessman competed with Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race.

Two and a half weeks later, Nunes held the news conference saying an unidentified source had shown him intelligence reports containing "unmasked" names of Trump associates incidentally caught up in routine foreign surveillance.

Immediately after Mr Nunes' news conference, critics argued that he had disclosed classified information in what many saw as an effort to provide cover to Mr Trump's wiretapping claim and to distract from the wider Russian Federation investigation.

"Devin Nunes has earned my trust over many years for his integrity and dedication to the critical work that the intelligence community does to keep America safe", it said.

One day after that stunning revelation, Nunes secretly visited the White House to review evidence that is now at the center of Trump's counter-offensive.