POLITICO came out with a morbidly humorous report on Sunday. As the outlet explained, the campaign committee of controversial GOP House Intel Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes is paying for an alternative “news” site called The California Republican.
The site’s Facebook page boasted barely 4,000 likes as of mid-Sunday afternoon, with hundreds of those seemingly coming after POLITICO published its report highlighting the effort from the Nunes camp. Although it didn’t seemingly boast a high readership, Nunes has remained committed enough to the Trumpian cause of battling mainstream media to have kept it up all this time — or tried to keep it up at least.
As of about mid-Sunday afternoon, the site remains down, with a Facebook post claiming that the site had suffered some kind of cyberattack. Considering the credibility of the people behind the site, they might simply have no idea what they’re doing and simply like how the idea of a cyberattack contributes to their martyrdom complex.
Democratic member of the U.S. House from California Rep. Ted Lieu has now joined the chorus of those voices responding to the revelations about the site, posting fitting sarcastic jabs on Twitter. One of the site’s headlines reported upon by POLITICO on Sunday was an attack on Lieu, reading: “Dem CA Rep roasted on CNN, proceeds to make a fool of himself.”
Lieu, who has often been vocal in his criticisms of President Trump and the Republican Party, wrote on Twitter:
‘This is pretty funny. Rep @DevinNunes is now PAYING for a fake “alternative news” site to…attack folks like me. Hey Devin, feel free to call me names because I’m cool like that. But at least I actually read underlying documents before writing memos based on those documents.’
This is pretty funny. Rep @DevinNunes is now PAYING for a fake “alternative news” site to…attack folks like me.
Hey Devin, feel free to call me names because I’m cool like that.
But at least I actually read underlying documents before writing memos based on those documents. https://t.co/uUHMS7CMQ2
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) February 11, 2018
In his tweet, Lieu mentioned the infamous so-called “Nunes memo,” which was produced by Nunes after carrying on with a much maligned, sham “investigation” of the nation’s justice system.
The Nunes memo asserts that FBI surveillance of former Trump associate Carter Page in the end of 2016 and beginning of 2017 was carried out under corrupt pretenses of the allegations contained in the “Trump dossier” compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele.
There’s more to the story, though, with issues including the fact that Democrats and the FBI both claim that the Nunes memo doesn’t tell the whole story. Democrats have attempted to make a memo outlining their rebuttals to the Nunes memo public, but the president has so far blocked the release of that memo.
In addition, although prominent members of the Trump team — including the president himself — have continuously claimed otherwise, the surveillance that Nunes claims was carried out under corrupt pretenses isn’t the only spark for the Russia investigation.
In fact, there remain other pressing issues that have sparked the beginning and the continuation of the Russia investigation.
Thus, no matter how much the president would like it to be otherwise, he’s not getting off the hook that easily. Special Counsel for the Russia investigation Robert Mueller is continuing his investigation, and he may sooner than later interview the president himself.
Through all of this, it’s not as though Nunes maintains much credibility, so Lieu’s comments are very on point.
Others to have commented so far include Andrew Janz, described by POLITICO as “Nunes’ main Democratic challenger in his reelection bid,” who said:
‘He’s got fake memos, fake websites and fake news. It’s disappointing to see a member of Congress, especially one who chairs an important committee, spread misinformation to his constituents, who he knows will just eat it up.’
Check out Twitter’s response to the Congressman below.
Featured Image via Kris Connor/ Getty Images
