Rep. Nunes awarded by conservative group
House Intelligence Committee chair lauded at CPAC.
The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee predicted a backlash from the release of a Democratic memo about foreign meddling in the 2016 election, telling a yearly gathering of conservatives that “the Dem- ocratic-controlled media” had misled Americans about the investigation.
“We actually wanted this out,” said Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., addressing the annual Conservative Polit- ical Action Conference just as the Democratic memo was released. “It’s clear evidence that the Democrats are not only covering this up, but they’re also colluding with parts of the government to cover this up.”
Nunes’s remarks, part of a Q&A with American Conservative Union president Matt Schlapp, came at the end of a conference where the inquiries into Donald Trump’s presidential campaign were described as a partisan farce. Nunes was one of several speakers who suggested that the case against the Trump campaign was flimsy, and any investigation into the election needed to focus on whether the Obama administration had unfairly targeted the 2016 Republican campaign.
“We’ve seen no evidence of collusion,” said Nunes.
“We’ve seen no evidence of Republicans colluding,” added Schlapp. “That’s fair,” said Nunes. The conference, which unfolded over three-anda-half days at the Gaylord National Resort & Conven- tion Center outside Washing- ton, overlapped with break- ing news about the long-run- ning Russia investigation. On Friday, Trump campaign official Rick Gates pleaded guilty on two charges related to money laundering, and special counsel Robert Mueller filed fresh charges against former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort.
But at CPAC, the news was received in two ways: as a distraction, or as a hoax. According to the conference’s annual straw poll, 60 percent of attendees said that the Mueller investigation was unfair. In a Saturday afternoon speech, Tom Fitton, the president of the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch said that the probe and the media’s focus on it was designed to distract from scandals around defeated 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
“Judicial Watch has compiled enough evidence to compel the lawful arrest of Hillary Clinton,” said Fitton. “It’s no wonder that the D.C. establishment would rather talk about their made-up garbage about Donald Trump and Russia.”
Cheers of “thank you!” went up as soon as Nunes took the stage, and continued as he described why he’d released a memo about how research by Fusion GPS, an opposition research firm, was used to justify probes of Trump’s campaign.
“Our memo was for one purpose only, and that was to show that FISA abuse occurred,” said Nunes. “They are advocating that it’s okay for the FBI and DO J to use political dirt paid for by one campaign and use it against another political campaign.”
“What you’re really seeing is the collapse of the media. It’s really sad,” said Nunes.
When the session ended, he stood to receive the ACU’s Defender of Freedom Award, credited to his “lonely pursuit of truth on behalf of the American people.”