After the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee ran to the press to run interference for Trump, he ran straight to the White House after consultation with Paul Ryan. His purpose in running to the White House was to share the same classified information he blurted out to the press with Trump, or to get a head scratch for successfully blowing smoke over the horrible story about Paul Manafort and his dealings with the Russian-supporting Ukrainian oligarchs.
After crowing about how important it was that the chairman of an Oversight Committee run to the President with sensitive and classified information, Nunes was asked whether or not he cleared his disclosures with the DOJ, to which he replied, "The DOJ has nothing to do with it."
Oh, really?
Meanwhile, Rep. Adam Schiff, ranking member on the same committee, released a strongly-worded statement which explains how utterly wrong Nunes' actions are.
"If accurate, this information should have been shared with members of the committee, but it has not been," Schiff wrote. "Indeed, it appears that committee members only learned about this when the Chairman discussed the matter this afternoon with the press. The Chairman also shared this information with the White House before providing it to the committee, another profound irregularity, given that the matter is currently under investigation."
He continued, "I have expressed my grave concerns with the Chairman that a credible investigation cannot be conducted this way."
This is where I remind you that Devin Nunes served on Trump's transition. Indeed, he was a key member of the transition.
As for the surveillance itself, Schiff blasted Nunes' contention that there was any wrongdoing.
"As to the substance of what the Chairman has alleged, if the information was lawfully gathered intelligence on foreign officials, that would mean that U.S. persons would not have been the subject of surveillance. In my conversation late this afternoon, the Chairman informed me that most of the names in the intercepted communications were in fact masked, but that he could still figure out the probable identity of the parties.," Schiff wrote.
Yes, he could, because HE SERVED ON THE TRUMP TRANSITION. This is not brain surgery.
What Nunes has done is to utterly compromise national intelligence. We can have a debate about FISA warrants and the like, but the fact is that Trump claimed Obama ordered wiretaps of HIS offices, and there is still no evidence whatsoever of such a thing.
Here's what we've got. A corrupt administration, with an open FBI investigation which the chairman of the House Select Intelligence Committee just compromised in order to run cover for Dear Leader.
Dear readers, the swamp just got deeper and muddier. Here's what must happen.
- Nunes must resign as chairman of the committee
- An independent prosecutor must be appointed
- An independent commission must be formed to investigate
At the very least. No more, or no less. Otherwise we're all going to sink into the swamp.
Update:
Lookie over here at this coincidence!
