Nunes takes the fall

U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes has learned the hard way the price of being overly loyal to this White House, sacrificing his objectivity in the process.

Yesterday the House Intelligence Committee chairman did indeed recuse himself from the committee’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election — something that Democrats certainly, but several Republicans too, have been clamoring for, for weeks.

The California Republican issued a statement yesterday saying, “Several left-wing activist groups filed accusations against me with the Office of Congressional Ethics.” The charges were filed by Democracy 21 and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, two admittedly liberal watchdog nonprofits.

“The charges are entirely false and politically motivated and are being leveled just as the American people are beginning to learn the truth about the improper unmasking of the identities of U.S. citizens and other abuses of power,” he added.

Someone might want to tell Nunes that when you’re in a hole, just stop digging.

Nunes’ late-night meeting with staffers at the National Security Council to view intelligence documents was strange enough. Returning to “brief” the president about what he read — material presumably readily available to the White House — and then going before TV cameras to talk about some of what he saw took the incident from strange to bizarre. So too his characterizing his NSC sources as “whistleblowers.”

That he did all of this without telling the ranking Democrat on the committee or any committee members calls into question his judgment.

The House Ethics Committee will investigate allegations that “Nunes may have made unauthorized disclosures of classified information, in violation of House Rules, law, regulations, or other standards of conduct.”

Nunes has no one but himself to blame for this unforced error. Toadying to the White House just isn’t a great career move.