US President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday, December 14, named loyalist Devin Nunes, who heads his social media platform Truth Social, to serve as chairman of a White House intelligence advisory board. Nunes is a Republican ex-congressman from California who led the US House intelligence committee during the start of Trump’s first presidential term.
He has accused the Federal Bureau of Investigation of abusing its powers to spy on a Trump election campaign official who had extensive Russian contacts.
Trump said in his post that Nunes will remain the chief executive of Truth Social while leading the advisory panel. In 2018 while chair of the intelligence committee, Nunes released a controversial memo saying the FBI conspired against Trump when it was probing Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election.
“Devin will draw on his experience as former Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and his key role in exposing the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, to provide me with independent assessments of the effectiveness and propriety of the US Intelligence Community’s activities,” Trump said in a statement.
The President’s Intelligence Advisory Board (PIAB), created in the mid-20th century, exists to provide an independent source of advice on the effectiveness of the intelligence community’s data and its data acquisition. Trump described the board as consisting of “distinguished citizens from outside of the Federal Government.”
The appointment comes two weeks after Trump, set to be sworn in as president on January 20, nominated loyalist Kash Patel as FBI director, replacing current director Christopher Wray. Patel, who Nunes said assisted with the 2018 memo, is a former advisor and Pentagon official known for his passionate views on the government “deep state.”
