THE MATERIAL HE LEAKED WAS TOO HIGHLY CLASSIFIED TO DETERMINE IF IT WAS:

[T]he committee was never able to obtain or review the classified information at the heart of the inquiry, according to three congressional sources briefed on the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press. The panel's inability to determine for itself what may or may not have been classified--and what Nunes had actually been shown--likely contributed to its decision to close the investigation, according to one source.

Those restrictions cast doubt on whether the committee was able to authoritatively compare Nunes's statements to the press with what he had read in the classified intelligence reports. That, in turn, calls into question the thoroughness of the committee's investigation, and the accuracy of Nunes's claims of vindication. A spokesman for the Ethics Committee declined to comment. A spokesman for Nunes did not immediately respond.

Nunes said he would step aside from his committee's investigation into Russia's election interference until the Ethics Committee completed its inquiry, which marked the climax of a series of bizarre events that began with Nunes's late-night excursion to the White House last March.

Nunes spoke to reporters at least twice about the classified information he'd been shown by a source he characterized as a whistleblower. (The New York Times and The Washington Post later reported that three White House officials had helped Nunes gain access to the documents.)

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