Nunes slams Dems during fundraiser
Claims Russian probe a justification for Clinton’s loss.
WASHINGTON — E mb a t - tled House Selec t Intelli - gence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes told hundreds of Republicans at a recent private dinner fundraiser that congressional investigations into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election are about Democrats trying to justify Hillary Clinton’s loss.
“The Democrats don’t want an investigation on Russia. They want an independent commission. Why do they want an independent commission? Because they want to continue the narrative that Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump are best friends and that’s the reason that he won, because Hillary Clinton would have never lost on her own; it had to be someone else’s fault,” Nunes told Republicans at the $75-per-plate Tulare County, Calif., Lincoln Dinner on April 7.
“They have tried to destroy thi s Russia investigation, they’ve never been serious about it, and one of the great things now that I’ve stepped aside from this Russia investigation, I can actually say what I want to say,” the California Republican said in recorded remarks, provided by a person who attended the dinner.
Nunes, speaking a day after his recusal from the i nve s t i g at i on, expl a i ned why he felt he had to make the unexpected trip to the White House that sparked an ethics investigation into whet h e r h e mi sh a n d l e d classified information, and resulted in his withdrawal from the Russia probe. He told attendees that months before Trump tweeted that the Obama administration h a d wi r e t a p p e d T r u mp Tower, he knew about incidents of the previous administration “unmasking” or revealing the names of Americans incidentally caught up in surveillance.
Nunes said that because of the ongoing Russia investigation, and questions of what ties the Trump campaign may have had to what happened, he didn’t think what he found would be given to Trump unless he delivered the information himself.
Democrats said at the time that Nunes’ role as a member of the Trump transition team coupled with his taking the information to the White House before sharing it with others on the committee showed he couldn’t lead an impartial investigation. They demanded he recuse himself.