The NY Times has learned who briefed Nunes:
Several current American officials identified the White House officials as Ezra Cohen-Watnick, the senior director for intelligence at the National Security Council, and Michael Ellis, a lawyer who works on national security issues at the White House Counsel’s Office and formerly worked on the staff of the House Intelligence Committee. — NY Times
That should be alarming. These individuals are tasked with the important job of maintaining the national security of the US. Instead:
The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the intelligence, and to avoid angering Mr. Cohen-Watnick and Mr. Ellis. Officials say that Mr. Cohen-Watnick has been reviewing the reports from his fourth-floor office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, where the National Security Counsel is based. — NY Times
So Cohen-Watnick and Ellis are spending their time furiously working to dig up anything that might give Trump some cover from the Russia story. They should be focused on their important day jobs. Instead they’re spending their time trying to lobby the House intelligence committee chairman to be more sympathetic to Trump.
And what was this surveillance that was so damning?
Officials said the reports consisted primarily of ambassadors and other foreign officials talking about how they were trying to develop contacts within Mr. Trump’s family and inner circle in advance of his inauguration. [...]
Mr. Nunes has acknowledged that the incidental intelligence gathering on Trump associates last year was not necessarily unlawful. American intelligence agencies typically monitor foreign officials of allied and hostile countries, and they routinely sweep up communications linked to Americans who may be taking part in the conversation or are being spoken about.
So basically, stuff that happens all the time, and has likely picked up prior president-elects’ teams as well.
If staff at the NSC are spending all their time indulging Trump’s desire to play the victim, who exactly is minding the store? Do they have time to read intelligence reports on actual threats to ordinary people whose last names aren’t Trump?
We already know the president doesn’t think his intelligence briefings are worth spending a lot of time on. Now the NSC director of intelligence is spending his time in extra-curricular political activity.
We know what happens when presidents and those around them don’t pay attention.