March 24, 2017

Rep. Devin Nunes gave more reason to support his removal from ever being part of any investigation into the actions of the Trump administration when he told Sean Hannity that he ran to Trump first, instead of briefing his Intelligence Committee because he felt like he "had a duty and obligation to tell [Trump] because as you know, he's been taking a lot of heat in the news media."

When has it ever been the job of the Chairman of the Intelligence Committee of any party to act as the protective surrogate of a president, exclude members of his committee to hold impromptu press conferences, with no evidence in hand and then run to the White House to brief them?

Sean Hannity set up the segment as if Rep. Nunes actually exposed a real surveillance program, that targeted Trump and was instituted by the Obama administration, which is not the case.

Hannity said, "In fact surveillance took place in November, December, January of the president-elect, his transition team. What else do you know?"

First of all, incidental collection is not the same as active surveillance.

Since Rep. Nunes is part of Trump's transition team, was he also caught up in incidental collection? Bet on it.

Nunes responded by saying he thought it was important that he briefed the Speaker, the press and Trump. He never confirmed that Trump was under "surveillance."

Hannity responded by clucking about Trump felt vindicated, even if it was in an incidental way and Rep. Nunes said he couldn't go into it since he hadn't read all the reports that went into it.

Nunes expressed his deep conviction that "The president should be concerned" and that's why he "had a duty and obligation to tell him, because as you know, he's been taking a lot of heat in the news media and to some degree there are things he should look at."

Rep. Nunes should be forced to recuse himself from being part of any investigation pertaining to any of the Trump administration's actions and or connections to Russia. He cannot be a surrogate for Trump and objectively investigate the Trump campaign's collusion with Russia during the election.

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