In an interview with Chris Wallace Sunday on Fox News, California Republican and House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, whose committee’s hearings begin today, said there is “No evidence of collusion†between Donald Trump and Russia.
As Jason Easley said here, “Rep. Nunes was a Trump campaign official, so of course, he is going to say that there is no evidence of collusion” and is risking the Republican majority if Trump is indeed found guilty.
That is not Nunes’ only blunder, however. As first captured and transcribed by ShareBlue reporter Tommy Christopher, Nunes can be heard quite plainly saying (emphasis added),
“If you look at the folks who are working at the White House today that are involved in the Trump administration, I don’t think there is any but one there that is under any type of investigation or surveillance activities at all.â€
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Watch the video from Fox News:
Huh? Devin Nunes says of "people working at the White House now," none are under intel investigation or surveillance "but one." pic.twitter.com/9lxN79cbgl
— Tommy Christopher (@tommyxtopher) March 19, 2017
With that “But one,” Nunes just revealed to somebody that they are under investigation. That is obstruction of justice, as former conservative MP and independent journalist Louise Mensch pointed out:
Why are you revealing to a suspect he is under investigation @DevinNunes ! Stop obstructing justice! Resign! https://t.co/N67sYwfCbp
— Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) March 19, 2017
Of course, this is very bad. It happened so fast, Chris Wallace didn’t even notice it, so it passed without further comment. But Mensch, whose reporting revealed the existence of a FISA warrant in November, pointed out in another tweet,
CLUE: FITS MY REPORTING #fisa https://t.co/N67sYwfCbp
— Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) March 19, 2017
Nunes has tried to deny he even said it, telling The Daily Caller that Nunes didn’t mean what he clearly said:
“It’s a bit garbled in the video but he didn’t mean to say there is one person under surveillance, he’s saying there is no one under surveillance, which is why he says ‘at all’ at the end of the sentence.â€
There is nothing garbled at all. Listen to it all you want. Nunes still says what Nunes says.
Mensch has been called a “conspiracy queen” but Nunes said what he said and it doesn’t take an obsession with conspiracy to point to an act of obstruction of justice.
Nor does anything, including Nunes’ denials, change the fact that as Bill Palmer writes at The Palmer Report that “Even as Nunes tries to paint Trump as being innocent, he’s unwittingly pointing to Trump’s guilt.”
In other words, Devin Nunes is not only not doing the Republican Party any favors, but with friends like Nunes, Donald Trump doesn’t need any enemies.
Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.
