House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-California. (photo: J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
Nunes
Shows Why He's Incapable of Running an Investigation
By Jennifer Rubin, The
Washington Post
23 March 17
The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday
accused U.S. spy agencies of abusing their surveillance powers by gathering and
sharing information about President Trump and his transition team, an unproven
charge that was quickly embraced by the White House but threatened to derail
the committee’s investigation of possible Trump campaign ties to Russia.
Rep.
Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), one of Trump’s closest allies on Capitol Hill, said he
was alarmed after seeing intelligence reports disseminated after the Nov. 8
election that made references to U.S. citizens affiliated with Trump, and
possibly the president-elect himself. He appeared to be referring to relatively
routine cases of surveillance on foreign individuals in which they communicated
with or mentioned Americans. …
But
Nunes’s refusal to disclose how he had obtained the documents and his unusual
handling of the material — which he withheld from other committee members even
while rushing to present it to the White House — were interpreted by some as a
sign that his discovery was engineered to help the White House.
This
is truly unprecedented behavior for the chairman of the House Intelligence
Committee, especially since he never shared the information or even consulted
with the committee’s ranking Democrat, Adam Schiff (Calif.). Considering the
breach of comity, Schiff was remarkably restrained in a written statement. He took
Nunes to task for this “profound irregularity.” He continued, “I have expressed
my grave concerns with the Chairman that a credible investigation cannot be
conducted this way.” Moreover, Schiff made clear that contrary to Nunes’s
hysteria over unmasked individuals (Americans picked up in surveillance whose
names were used), most of the names in the intercept were masked (e.g. “Person
#1”), although Nunes could figure out by context who the individuals were.
Later in a news conference,
Schiff said, “The chairman will need to decide whether he is the chairman of an
independent investigation into conduct, which includes allegations of potential
coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russians, or if he’s going
to act as a surrogate of the White House, because he cannot do both.” Schiff
added, “Unfortunately, I think the actions of today throw great doubt into the
ability of both the chairman and the committee to conduct the investigation the
way it ought to be conducted.” In an interview with MSNBC’s Chuck Todd, Schiff dropped his own hints,
saying the case of collusion was more than circumstantial. He did not
elaborate.
Sen.
Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, charged into the fray on
Wednesday. He told reporters, “Representative Nunes’s statements would appear
to be revealing classified information and that obviously would be a very
serious concern.” The vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee,
Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), spoke for many when he said he wanted to find out “what
the heck” was going on. On Wednesday evening, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) declared, “No
longer does the Congress have credibility to handle this alone, and I don’t say
that lightly.”
For
starters, we need to know whether Nunes disclosed any classified materials by
running to the cameras and by discussing the matter with anyone at the White
House who might not have a sufficient security clearance. We also need to know
whether his sharing information with the administration interfered with the
investigation in any manner. If so, there are legal, ethical and political
implications. At the very least, Nunes has demonstrated that he is not so much
conducting an oversight process as running interference for the administration.
His actions should be disqualifying.
President
Barack Obama’s Justice Department spokesman Matthew Miller seemed
flabbergasted. “I can’t imagine what he was thinking — why entirely throw your
own credibility away for something that doesn’t even give Trump what he needs?”
He explained, “It gives [Trump] a Breitbart headline that he was vindicated,
but no one else thinks that. It’s baffling.”
Democrats
certainly would be entitled to declare the whole thing a charade and refuse to
participate in Nunes’s compromised investigation. Let the Senate committee,
which for now appears serious, to do its work. In reality, Nunes only damaged
his own credibility and that of his fellow Republicans who obsessed in FBI
Director James B. Comey’s hearing over the leaks, not the potential that Trump
colluded with a foreign adversary.
Evan
McMullin, who had previously criticized Republicans’ conduct, put out his own
statement on Wednesday. “Republican leaders have a choice: protect the
Republic, or protect Donald Trump. Today, Chairman Nunes chose to cover for
Trump in a politically motivated effort to distract attention from increasing
revelations of Trump’s ties to the Kremlin,” he said. “He broke trust with
fellow members of the House Intelligence Committee and with Americans depending
on him to get the truth. We can no longer trust Nunes to put America’s best
interests above those of Donald Trump.” McMullin renewed his call for a
bipartisan select committee to investigate.
To
outside observers, this seemed a clumsy and transparent attempt to divert
attention from Comey’s devastating testimony earlier in the week; an Associated Press story confirming that
Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort “secretly worked for a Russian
billionaire with a plan to ‘greatly benefit the Putin Government’ “; his team’s
failure to properly vet former national security adviser Michael Flynn;
Trump’s rotten poll numbers; and
the president’s difficulty in finding enough House Republicans to support his
signature issue — repealing and replacing Obamacare. Moreover, CNN dropped
another bombshell Wednesday
night: “The FBI has information that indicates associates of President Donald
Trump communicated with suspected Russian operatives to possibly coordinate the
release of information damaging to Hillary Clinton’s campaign, US officials
told CNN.” One can see why the White House might be desperate to divert
attention. Such an effort would be futile, of course. Evidence of collusion
would put the Trump presidency on life support.
The
scenery around Trump is peeling, and the performances are less convincing with
each passing day. Trump’s own histrionics seem more desperate than ever. The
audience (the electorate) no longer is willing to suspend disbelief. The
question is whether Trump’s longtime fans will drift away and his run will be
cut short.
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