I believe Nunes feels he has to keep the info from both Reps and Dems on the committee for fear of leaks to the bad guys he wants to surprise==and he wants to keep the whistleblower’s identity secret.
If reporters can go to jail to protect a source, I think Nunes can protect one without fear of jail.
But if all the above is true, he needs to defend himself by stating it in a publicly acceptable way, not clam up.
I get so much joy from the thousand little cuts RATS feel each day for not only losing, but failing to plan for when they DID lose, extreme, deadly backfires such as just this.