The Russia investigation is continuing to roll on in 2018, even though the members of the Trump team have consistently — for months now — insisted that the whole scandal would soon be drawing to a close. Even still, no development has kept them from working diligently to try and undermine the legitimacy of the Russia investigation.
One of the means they’ve employed to do that is in the form of the so-called Nunes memo, which is that document compiled by House Intel Committee Chairman Devin Nunes and released last week. This memo alleges abuses of surveillance power at the FBI of significant magnitude, with the Trump team seeking to turn these supposed abuses of power into something that discredits the entire Russia scandal and concurrent investigation.
There are at least two problems, here, though. For one, both Democrats and the FBI assert that the Nunes memo doesn’t tell the full story, which wouldn’t be entirely surprising, considering the GOP’s history.
Secondly, even in the face of the alleged abuses of surveillance power revealed by the Nunes memo, the Russia investigation remains legitimate, since the surveillance warrant at the center of the scandal isn’t the only catalyst for the Russia investigation as a whole.
The Nunes memo itself essentially acknowledges this, but that hasn’t stopped Donald Trump Jr. — among others –from claiming otherwise.
On Sunday, Trump Jr. took to Twitter to whine about negative media coverage of the politically biased Nunes memo.
Replying to a Financial Times headline covering Democratic concerns about Trump using the Nunes memo as justification for conducting a purge at the DOJ, Trump Jr. wrote:
‘Pretty sure the actual constitutional crisis is the prior administration weaponizing the DOJ and FBI to undermine a duly elected president with information paid for by his opponent with no basis in fact. But run with the Dem talkers. You do you.’
Pretty sure the actual constitutional crisis is the prior administration weaponizing the DOJ and FBI to undermine a duly elected president with information paid for by his opponent with no basis in fact. But run with the Dem talkers. You do you. ? https://t.co/SgEMTRiBBa
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) February 4, 2018
Trump Jr. conveniently ignores an array of facts here.
For one, it’s ironic how readily he accepts the Nunes memo as infallible holy writ, when he has for some time at this point undercut — or at least attempted to undercut — the well supported allegations of corruption against his father. Until the Democratic countermemo is revealed, there can be no judgment about the infallibility or lack thereof of the Nunes memo, period. The Nunes memo is a partisan political document that Trump Jr. is treating like his Bible.
Additionally, inconveniently for the Trumps, the Russia investigation doesn’t just magically go away because Nunes released an angry memo. Apart from the issue with the government’s surveillance of Carter Page, Trump Jr., remember, met with a Kremlin connected lawyer while seeking dirt on Hillary Clinton.
On from there, it’s his dad’s former national security adviser who was revealed to have lied to the FBI about secret communications with the Russians — and the examples go on and on.
Even still, this tweet isn’t the only way in which Trump Jr. has expressed his apparent belief that the Nunes memo completely vindicates his father’s team.
He also did so during an appearance on his dad’s favorite network, Fox.
His dad himself has been among those claiming the Nunes memo to be some kind of holy grail, despite reality to the contrary.
Check out Twitter’s response to Trump Jr. below.
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