Counterterrorism expert Malcolm Nance expressed disbelief on Saturday over this week’s actions by Devin Nunes, when the GOP congressman provided Donald Trump political cover by revealing that some information about the president’s associates was incidentally collected.
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On MSNBC’s AM Joy, Nance said any incidental findings on the Trump team would have been legal and for Nunes, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, to use that information in an effort to validate Trump’s insane claim shows how “clueless” he is.
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Nance said:
That’s all legal. But then him coming the next morning and saying, “A-ha! This is the type of surveillance Donald Trump was under.” It shows that the man who’s responsible for complete oversight of the U.S. intelligence process is clueless about what surveillance is, is clueless about what incidental collection is … He obviously took that information and used it.
Nance is exactly right. Not only was Nunes wrong to come out and try to vindicate Trump’s paranoid claim about Barack Obama surveilling Trump Tower. Â What he did is also terrifying because he is in charge of the committee responsible for these matters.
The information Nunes revealed did nothing to vindicate Trump’s initial claim that President Obama ordered the wiretapping of Trump Tower. It was just information picked up by the intel community during standard intelligence gathering.
So, now, not only has Nunes shown himself to be completely in the tank for the president at a time when he is supposed to be conducting an independent investigation, but he is proving that he doesn’t understand surveillance.
This is pretty stunning for a guy in charge of the House Intelligence Committee.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
