Democrats using Devin Nunes to undermine House Intelligence Committee investigation

House Democrats are being careful not to overplay their hand as they question House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes' role in Congress' investigations into Russia's meddling in the presidential election, hoping to use the panel as a vehicle for broadcasting their objections to the probe.

Democrats decided to only ask for Nunes' recusal — not his resignation — as a tactical move, one knowledgeable Democratic source told the Washington Examiner. That way they can ratchet up the pressure on Nunes if they find out he's had more questionable interactions with the White House.

On Monday night, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and other key Democrats called on Nunes to recuse himself from the probes after he admitted to meeting at the White House with informants who supposedly gave him evidence that President Trump's team was improperly monitored by intelligence services during the transition from the Obama administration to the Trump administration.

Nunes has become something of a whipping boy for Democrats, who can use him to label the intelligence panel probe as partisan.

The committee needs a "chairperson who has enough objectivity, who isn't wedded to party apparatus, but enough objectivity to make sure that Americans are kept safe … and to "ensure that the protection is there and we don't' have a White House dictating legislative policy as it relates to the" intelligence community, Rep. Andre Carson, D-Ind., who sits on the panel, told the Washington Examiner.