House Russia Investigation — Devin Nunes is Drowning in His Own Story

Devin Nunes is the goofiest cloak and dagger, wanna-be, domestic-007, Congressional double agent that Hollywood never invented. As far as Trump-spy investigatory obstructionists go, he’s the runt of the litter (and he’s the only one). A woefully inconsistent liar, an abysmil conspiratorial strategist, a bumbling Intelligence Committee Chairman and an emotionally devoid Press Conference zombie, he’s far more Inspector Jacques Clouseau (from Peter Seller’s Pink Panther) then James Bond, Jack Ryan or Jason Bourne.

The least qualified person to lead the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, (then) Speaker John Boehner appointed him Chair November 18, 2014. (Prior to the appointment, he was a border-line influential mouthpiece for big Agriculture and a fierce climate change denier.) That being said, he wasn’t always politcally scatterbrained.

He was an aggressive, committed, hard-nosed, Hillary Clinton truth seeking missile. Bengazi and email server investigations were passionate, god-fearing (and fearmongering) crusades. He left no stone unturned, no fact undiscovered, no scathing untruth un-deciminated. Nunes (along with nearly every other Republican member of Congress) aggressively worked to serve Hillary Clinton’s allegedly corrupt, properly coiffed head (and her less-then-conservative, refreshingly colorful pantsuit) on a GOP concocted, criminally deficient platter.

• October 31, 2016: “We will clearly investigate all of the information that we have as it relates to classified information being put on networks where Russians, Chinese, and other bad actors could get ahold of the information. If classified information is found on any of the 650,000 emails on Weiner’s (Anthony) computer, it will give these congressional inquiries a whole new life — as well it should.” (in refernce to Clinton’s assistant, Huma Abedin’s compromised laptop) Chicago Tribune
• October 30, 2016 “Decades of experience, decades of receiving classified information, would not have known, that she (Clinton) was looking at, analyzing, communicated in classified information over an unsecured network. It’s not believable.” The Hill
• May 10, 2013: “…an interim investigative report released by five congressional committees, which found that White House and top State Department officials altered the talking points to protect the State Department from criticism; that contrary to administration claims, the talking points were not changed to protect classified information; and that pre-attack reductions in security levels at the Benghazi consulate were approved at the highest levels of the State Department, which contradicts Hillary Clinton’s statements on the issue.” Nunes.house.gov — Nunes Blog

Sure, Nunes was a Clinton hater, an extreme ideologue and a Washington insider (masquerading as an outsider). Sure, from time to time, in factually convenient instances, he could function as an unbiased investigator for the Legislative Branch. He was able to craft sensible arguments. He could project a strong, self-confident demeanor. His press conferences and interviews were occassionally reasonable events (at least in terms of persona, body language, delivery and content).

Things started to change on March 20, 2017. Nunes confidently called his Committee hearing to order. His opening statement conspicuously and intentionally discluded the five hundred pound gorilla(s) in the room. Instead of wiretapping and collusion, Nunes discussed Russia’s distasteful record of interference as well as a somewhat disingenuous assessment of surveillance concerns. The Comey/Rogers Russia hearing was off to a controversial, partisan start.

By the end of the hearing, Nunes was less inspired and less credible. FBI Director James Comey debunked President Trump’s false wiretap narrative and ranking Minority Member Adam Schiff made a solid case for collusion.

In closing, Nunes challenged Comey and, indirectly defended the President: “I know that you’re not going to tell me whether or not you have any evidence (of coordination) but I can tell you that we don’t have any evidence. If you have evidence, especially as it relates to people in the White House…that would be something that we really should know about and know about quickly, because there is a big gray cloud that you have now put over people who have very important work to do to lead this country.”

Two days later, Nunes’ delivered a severe, self inflicted blow to his semi-fractured credibility. His disoriented state of political mind devolved quickly as he called an impromptu press conference.

Nunes claimed an anonymous source confirmed members of the Trump Administration were legally surveilled, illegally “unmasked” and their identities were “widely disseminated” by intelligence officials. Oddly, he suggested this legal survellience had nothing to do with the Russia investigation.

Nunes scampered over to the White House a short time later, briefed President Trump and held another press conference. The Congressman appeared a bit unsteady and was most assuredly off his game (if not his rocker).

The Atlantic reported, “In both press conferences, reporters expressed puzzlement at what Nunes believed was wrong, since he indicated that the collection was lawful and incidental. His answer focused on the question of “unmasking.” Nunes said, “What I have read seems to me to be some level of surveillance activity, perhaps legal, but I don’t know that it’s right, I don’t know that the American people would be comfortable with what I read, but let’s get all the reports.”

It’s obvious, painfully obvious Nunes hoped to provide political cover for President Looney Tweets. Unfortunately (or fortunately), efforts to conceal his true motivation were as transparent as they were harebrained.

Nunes, either fall-on-the-sword, crazy-pants loyal or possibly protecting his own guilty derrière immediately found himself drowning in “liar, liar pants on fire” quicksand.

• Ranking minority committee member, Adam Schiff was never briefed. The rest of the committee was never briefed. (to date)
• Nunes briefed Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. He also spoke to directors at the CIA and NSA before the first press conference.
• After the press conference Nunes said he did not have the sourced documentation. No one else has seen it. (to date)
• Nunes postponed (then canceled) a subsequent public hearing. Former members of Obama Adminstration were scheduled to testify.
• Nunes later confirmed to CNN he was on the White House grounds the evening before his announcement (Raising suspicion his source was connected to the White House).
• A spokesperson later confirmed Nunes met with the source on the White House Grounds.
• Congressional staffers said Nunes “was in a car with a staff member the evening before his announcment. He recieved a call (from the source..or not). He hopped out of the car and hopped into an Uber”.
• Nunes refuted the account, “I was in a cab with staff and we dropped them off before I went to my meeting. Anything other than that is just false.”
• A spokesman for Nunes said he “didn’t know for sure that any Trump aides had actually been subject to surveillance, just that their names had appeared in intelligence reports, which could have resulted from other people talking about them.”
• Nunes changed the story from “they were unmasked” to “It was pretty clear who they were talking about. For the most part, they were masked.”

Thus far, the upside for Nunes:

• The President said he feels “somewhat vindicated”.

Thus far, the downside for Nunes:

• House Minorty Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for his recusal and/or removal as Committee Chair.
• Its pretty clear the White House (in some capacity) is the anonymous source.
• The mainstream press, increasingly intolerant of the Trump Team’s misinformation campaign, is not going to let go of the story.

This can’t end well.