Rep. Devin Nunes, the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, declared Monday evening that there was “clear evidence of collusion” with the Russians — but it was on the Democratic side.
During an appearance on Fox News’ Hannity, Nunes blasted the mainstream media, calling their failure to report honestly on the growing scandal “embarrassing.”
The California Republican also announced that his committee would be asking for the transcripts of the four surveillance requests from the FISA Court.
Nunes pointed out that no one in the mainstream media seemed bothered by the fact that the FBI knowingly used “political dirt” to open a counterintelligence investigation into a presidential campaign.
The fact that the mainstream media is “totally uninterested in this” Nunes said was a problem. “Can you imagine if the shoe was on the other foot?” he exclaimed.
As an example, he argued that if Donald Trump or President Bush or Karl Rove had paid for political dirt and then George W. Bush’s FBI opened an counterintelligence investigation into the Obama campaign, “this town would be on fire.” Nunes said: “Every reporter would be following around Karl Rove and George W. Bush all over town. Yet it’s crickets from the media. It’s embarrassing. It’s absolutely embarrassing and I’m almost flabbergasted because I thought at least there would be some ounce of credibility left, but there really is none.”
Nunes also pointed out that the Obama campaign talked to Russians in 2008, and nobody seemed bothered by that.
He told Hannity that the FISA abuse that happened during the Obama era was “what happens in banana republics. It’s very scary.”
“We’re going to try to ask the court whether or not they will provide the transcripts of the four proceedings,” he said. “It would be very interesting if we could get those transcripts to know exactly what was presented verbally to the court, and to see if that was transcribed.”
Nunes said that the evidence points to a “clear link” between the Clinton campaign and Russia. “You have a campaign who hired a law firm, who hired Fusion GPS, who then got information from the Russians on the other campaign,” he said. “It seems like the counter intelligence investigation should’ve been opened up against the Hillary campaign when they got a-hold of the dossier. But that didn’t happen, either.”
Incredibly, the Democrats on the Intelligence Committee have apparently leaked intelligence to the media at least 100 times, according to the congressman.
In response to reports that Clinton’s shady associates went through the State Department to feed former British spy Christopher Steele anti-Trump allegations, Nunes suggested that the committee was looking into it.
“We have an active investigation into the State Department that has been going on for awhile now,” Nunes said. “As soon as we can get that information out, we will — as the investigation unfolds.”
“There’s clear evidence of collusion — that the Democratic Party and the Hillary Clinton campaign colluded with the Russians,” Nunes declared. “What they accuse you of is what they were actually doing.”
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