The Russia scandal is continuing to unfold as time goes on, with Special Counsel Robert Mueller having so far brought charges against four former Trump associates, including, most recently, former presidential national security adviser Michael Flynn.
One of the latest players to push their way to the front of the pack in media coverage of the Russia scandal is GOP Chairman of the House Intel Committee Rep. Devin Nunes.
Last week, a memo he had compiled alleging supposed surveillance abuses at the FBI was released, setting off a string of claims from the Trump team that the Russia investigation had proven to be a sham and the president had been vindicated. The memo alleges that some of the surveillance conducted towards the beginning of the investigation was conducted under false pretenses.
That’s not the end of the story, with interests ranging from Congressional Democrats to the FBI alleging that the Nunes memo misrepresents key issues.
That hasn’t stopped Nunes and other Republicans from going around praising the merits of the memo, however.
Nunes himself did so this week during an appearance on the president’s favorite show, Fox & Friends, and during his time on the show uttered what is seemingly a bold-faced lie.
The hosts pressed him about the questions raised by the memo about the role of former Trump foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos in kickstarting the Russia investigation. Papadopoulos is reported to have, in a drunken state, revealed to an Australian diplomat that he had knowledge of Russian government sourced dirt on Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Of this, Nunes commented:
‘If Papadopoulos was such a major figure, why didn’t you get a warrant on him? If Papadopoulos was such a major figure — you had nothing on him, you know, the guy lied. As far as we can tell, Papadopoulos never even knew who — never even had met with the president.’
Nunes, is, quite simply, wrong here. A photo has been incessantly circulated of Papadopoulos sitting in on a meeting including then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, among others, in March 2016.
Check it out below.
There’s no way around it — Nunes is wrong.
Even still he expects us to believe him about the alleged abuses of government surveillance powers involving former Trump associate Carter Page.
He went on during his appearance on Fox to further attempt to downplay Papadopoulos’ significance, saying:
‘Look, getting drunk in London and talking to diplomats, saying that you don’t like Hillary Clinton — I think it’s kind of scary that our intelligence agencies would take that and use it against [an] American citizen.’
The point was never that Papadopoulos didn’t “like Hillary Clinton.” The point was that he claimed to have knowledge of Russian government sourced dirt on Hillary Clinton. Does Nunes really not get the difference and expect us to believe him when it comes to the memo that he released?
Check out video of his appearance on Fox below.
NUNES downplays PAPADOPOULOS’ role in Trump campaign, claims he shouldn’t have been investigated for drunkenly bragging about Russia having dirt on Clinton.
“As far as we can tell, Papadopoulos never even knew who Trump wa– never even met with the president.” pic.twitter.com/NgMdzdXVPM
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 5, 2018
Despite the issues with Nunes and his story, the president and his ilk have rushed to praise Nunes.
The president tweeted in support of the California Congressman early Monday morning,
Featured Image via Screenshot from the Video
