Nunes claims there's no evidence Papadopoulos ever met Trump despite photo

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin NunesDevin Gerald NunesSchumer: Nunes intent on undermining 'rule of law' with altered memo Schiff: Nunes gave Trump 'secretly altered' version of memo Former GOP rep rips Nunes over memo: He's chair of Trump's reelection campaign MORE (R-Calif.) in a Monday morning interview said there is no evidence former Trump campaign adviser George PapadopoulosGeorge Demetrios PapadopoulosMueller, Flynn legal teams not ready to schedule a sentencing hearing Mueller keeps Russia cards close to the vest Mueller reveals he wants to interview Trump about Comey, Flynn: report MORE met with President TrumpDonald John TrumpSchiff: Nunes gave Trump 'secretly altered' version of memo Davis: ‘Deep state’ existed in ’16 – but it elected Trump Former Trump legal spokesman to testify to Mueller about undisclosed call: report MORE, despite a widely disseminated photo of the two sitting around the same table for a meeting.

“If Papadopoulos was such a major figure, you had nothing on him, you know, the guy lied,” Nunes told “Fox & Friends.” “As far as we can tell, Papadopoulos never even knew who — never even had met with the president.”

Papadopoulos, a former foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign, is included in a photo that shows then-candidate Trump and then-Sen. Jeff SessionsJefferson (Jeff) Beauregard SessionsUS to prioritize new asylum applications over past filings California considers state-run bank for pot businesses Trump doesn't recognize foreign-born black and brown people as American MORE (R-Ala.) sitting at opposite heads of a table.

Nunes’s comment comes after the House Intelligence Committee last week released a controversial memo that accuses the Justice Department of abusing its surveillance powers. That memo names Papadopoulos, who pleaded guilty last year to lying to the FBI, as the individual who “triggered” the FBI’s opening of a counterintelligence probe in July of 2016.

“Look, getting drunk in London and talking to diplomats, saying that you don’t like Hillary ClintonHillary Diane Rodham ClintonDavis: ‘Deep state’ existed in ’16 – but it elected Trump Former Trump legal spokesman to testify to Mueller about undisclosed call: report WSJ: Agents' texts reveal McCabe knew of Clinton emails for at least a month MORE — I think it’s kind of scary that our intelligence agencies would take that and use it against [an] American citizen,” Nunes added during his interview with “Fox & Friends.”

The memo, drafted by Nunes's staff, has been the subject of partisan fighting within both the House Intelligence Committee and throughout Congress.