In February 2017, Nunes, who served on the Trump transition team, was the first leading House Republican to deny that the intelligence community had evidence of contact between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives. He rejected repeated calls for an investigation by a select committee, saying the House should not engage in a "witch hunt" and that "at this point, there's nothing there". Nunes also rejected calls that he request President Trump's tax returns. At a White House communications aide's request, Nunes spoke to a reporter for "The Wall Street Journal" to challenge a story about the Trump campaign's connections to Russia.