Former Trump campaign CEO and chief strategist Steve Bannon has described Nunes as Trump’s second-strongest ally in Congress. Before winning his congressional office in 2003. Nunes was California State Director for the United States Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Section Nunes graduated from Cal Poly with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural business and a master’s degree in agriculture. He serves as chairman of the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and was a member of President Trump’s transition team. In March 2017, the U.S. House intelligence committee, which Nunes chairs, launched an investigation into possible Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. On April 6, 2017, he temporarily stepped aside from leading that investigation while the Office of Congressional Ethics investigated allegations, which Nunes denied, that he had improperly disclosed classified information to the public. In December 2017, the United States House Committee on Ethics closed its investigation without taking any action against Nunes. In February 2018, the Nunes memo, a four-page memorandum written for Nunes by his staff, was released by Nunes to the public. The memo alleged a Federal Bureau of Investigation conspiracy against Donald Trump. In March 2018, the U.S. House intelligence committee finished its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, concluding that, contrary to the official consensus of the U.S. intelligence community, there had not been collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. Nunes subsequently began an investigation of the FBI and the Justice Department for allegedly abusing their powers in an attempt to hurt Trump.] Nunes’s attacks on the FBI and the investigation by independent counsel Robert Mueller have created concerns among Democrats and some Republicans about Republican efforts to halt the investigation and to protect Trump from any allegations against him. He voted vea on Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017. Nunes supported President Trump’s 2017 executive order imposing a temporary ban on entry into the United States by citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries. Nunes opposed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, an international agreement that the U.S. and other major world powers negotiated with Iran, under which Iran was granted partial sanctions relief in exchange for limits and monitoring of its nuclear activities. In February 2014, during a drought in California, Nunes rejected any link to global warming, saying "Global warming is nonsense."[ .