Tag Archives: Devin Nunes

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Presidential Medal of Freedom … to these guys?

REUTERS/Erin Scott – RC2SRD9C9IES

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Others have weighed in already, but I have to throw my rhetorical pittance into the mix.

Donald Trump has decided to cheapen the Presidential Medal of Freedom — this great nation’s highest civilian honor — by draping it around the necks of two of his most ardent political allies/hacks.

Yep, U.S. Reps. Jim Jordan and Devin Nunes will be handed the same honor that historically has gone to individuals who contribute to the national security and the cultural and social life of the nation.

What in the world have Jordan and Nunes done? Well, they have been two of Trump’s most ardent political allies. They have led the charge against allegations that got Trump impeached by the House of Representatives. Nunes cooked up bogus intelligence reports about Trump’s Russia connections. Jordan badgered witnesses mercilessly … and has been accused of looking the other way while athletes under his charge as an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State University were being sexually assaulted.

This is Donald Trump’s modus operandi. He honors those who are loyal to him. That’s what matters to this individual.

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So, that’s why Chairman Schiff managed to keep his cool

It occurred to my wife and me this evening as news broke about the House Intelligence Committee’s report on its impeachment findings just why Chairman Adam Schiff was able to keep his cool while ranking member Devin Nunes kept ranting during the public hearings about so-called Democratic games.

Schiff knew what was coming, that the Intel Committee’s evidence would implicate Nunes as a key player in the impeachment drama involving Donald Trump, his lawyer Rudolf Giuliani, Ukraine and the sordid other characters.

It appears that Nunes had plenty of contact with Ukraine government officials, seeking Ukrainian help in digging up dirt on Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.

So, while Nunes was preening and posturing about alleged nefarious Democratic motives in seeking to impeach Trump, he well might be involved in his own nefarious activity.

Schiff, experienced prosecutor that he is, kept his cool. He knew what would be revealed.

Well played, Mr. Chairman.

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Nunes surveillance claim shot down in flames

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Here it is, yet again.

Members of Congress appear to have disproved Rep. Devin Nunes’s contention that someone spied on Donald Trump’s campaign. At the very least they have cast serious doubt on the things Nunes said about in response to Trump’s ridiculous/slanderous assertion that Barack Obama “ordered” the wire tap on Trump’s campaign.

Nunes has removed himself as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, which is supposed to investigate whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russian government officials to influence the 2016 presidential election.

That’s the good news, in my humble view.

The bad news is that the controversy surrounding so-called surveillance will continue to swirl around the Trump administration. It will swirl until we know with absolute certainty whether there was collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russian government hackers.

The president can bring this controversy to a close as well by disclosing what he knew about his campaign’s activity and when he knew it.

This story will not go away

There’s also the angle about Susan Rice, President Obama’s national security adviser. Trump suggested Rice might have broken the law by revealing the names of individuals who might have been tracked by U.S. intelligence agencies. The lawmakers who have slammed the lid on Nunes’s assertion about the surveillance also seem to have debunked any notion that Rice did anything wrong.

The murkiness of this story only is worsening.

We need clarity. Now.

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Make recusal permanent, Rep. Nunes

U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes has recused himself “temporarily” from the House Intelligence Committee investigation into Donald Trump’s alleged connection to Russian government hackers.

Fine. Let’s make the recusal permanent, shall we?

Moreover, let’s work to institute an independent investigation into the potentially grave matter and take it completely out of the hands of partisan politicians.

Nunes chaired the Intelligence panel. Then he revealed he had some knowledge of “incidental surveillance” being done on Trump campaign officials. He ventured to the White House secretly and met in private with the president.

The former chairman managed to compromise his independence completely. After all, he had served on Trump’s transition team. From where I sit, he is too close to the subject of his committee’s investigation.

The Intelligence Committee chairmanship now falls to Mike Conaway, a Texas Republican. He pledges to carry the investigation forward.

I fear that won’t be good enough.

This matter is beginning to swallow up Congress as well as the White House. Politics is threatening to get in everyone’s way while the questions continue to surround the president, his campaign staff and even his governing administration.

Did the campaign collude with the Russians to influence the 2016 presidential election? Did the president defame former President Obama by accusing him falsely of ordering a wiretap prior to Trump taking office?

Republicans tend to give the president a pass on all of this; Democrats are quick to convict him of all of the above.

Independence is required to produce a thorough and unbiased investigation.

Nunes’ recusal is a start toward that end. Let’s finish it by handing it over to an independent counsel.

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POTUS can end this tumult immediately, if only …

Donald J. Trump is the world’s most powerful man.

As president of the United States, he has at his disposal the ability to put all this Russia/wiretap tumult to rest immediately.

How does he do that if what he says is true, that all this hubbub is much ado about nothing, that it’s all “fake news”?

He can order every aide with any possible tie to the Russia story to talk to congressional investigators. He can order them to speak candidly to the FBI. He can allow the former acting attorney general, the one he fired, to testify before the House Intelligence Committee.

All of this, of course, presumes that Trump is innocent of the accusations that are flying all over Washington, D.C.

Did his campaign conspire with Russian hackers to influence the 2016 election? Trump says it didn’t happen. His behavior of late, however, is beginning to smell like something different. It’s beginning to develop the odor of a cover-up.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes is pushing back on calls for him to recuse himself from this investigation. Democrats want him out; so do some Republicans. He says he has nothing to hide. Yet he canceled a hearing with former acting AG Sally Yates. It’s fair to ask: Why?

The House investigation is showing symptoms of an impending implosion.

The principal at the center of all this now occupies the White House. This is Donald Trump’s controversy to squash. He can demand a full public accounting of all the questions that are threatening to swallow his still-young presidency.

That presumes the president’s innocence.

Does he — or doesn’t he — have anything to hide?

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Step aside, Chairman Nunes

The more I think about it, the very idea of Devin Nunes chairing the House Intelligence Committee that’s examining Donald J. Trump’s potential Russia connections seems utterly ludicrous.

Chairman Nunes should do what his Democratic colleagues and many of his fellow Republicans are demanding of him. He should recuse himself from the panel’s Russia investigation.

C’mon, man! He served on Donald Trump’s presidential transition team. He has just recently gotten involved in an imbroglio regarding intelligence he said he had that suggested someone had spied on Trump, gathering “incidental” intelligence.

Now he’s trying to explain how he managed to tell the president about it and why he did it.

His objectivity has been compromised to the hilt.

Ranking Democratic Committee member Adam Schiff has demanded that Nunes step down. U.S. Sen. John McCain has joined the chorus; so has fellow Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham.

This, folks, now seems like a “well, duh!” moment, given Nunes’ role in Trump’s transition.

The Russia probe needs dispassionate leadership from the House Intelligence Committee chairman. There needs to be a thorough examination of all the evidence that’s been gathered.

The questions are these:

* Did the president collude with Russian hackers who sought to influence the 2016 presidential election?

* Did anyone on his campaign engage in collusion? Did they do so with the candidate’s knowledge?

The House Intelligence Committee needs a chairman who is able — and willing — to seek the truth, no matter where it leads him.

Devin Nunes is not that man.

Step aside, Mr.Chairman.

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What gives with Chairman Nunes?

What is it with House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes?

He is up to his armpits with information pertaining to Donald Trump’s possible involvement with Russian hackers and their effort to swing the election in his favor. Nunes also is privy to the circumstances surrounding the president’s phony allegation that Barack Obama “ordered” a wiretap of Trump’s offices in New York City.

He then meets with the president — in the White House! — to tell him about “incidental” intelligence that might have been gathered.

Now we hear that he had a meeting prior to going to the White House with someone, supposedly the source of that “incidental” intelligence.

According to NBC News: “‘Chairman Nunes met with his source at the White House grounds in order to have proximity to a secure location where he could view the information provided by the source,’ said his spokesman, Jack Langer.”

What did they discuss?

Hmmm. I presume you’ll recall the time former President Clinton boarded an airplane in Phoenix to talk to then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch, whose department was investigating Hillary Clinton’s e-mail matter. Republicans raised all kinds of hell about the appearance of impropriety. They just didn’t know for certain what the ex-president and the AG discussed and they all but accused President Clinton of trying to get Lynch to back off her department’s probe.

Lynch and Clinton said they talked about all manner of things — except that issue.

So, I believe it’s reasonable to ask: What did Chairman Nunes discuss at the White House — and with whom did he discuss it?

I am now believing that Devin Nunes should not be chairing the House committee that’s assigned to investigate these increasingly frightening matters involving the president of the United States.

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Stop the tease, Rep. Schiff, about ‘circumstantial evidence’

Now it’s a leading congressional Democrat who’s teasing the public with something — still unknown — relating to whether the Donald J. Trump presidential campaign was in cahoots with the Russians to influence the 2016 election.

Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told NBC’s Chuck Todd that the committee has “more than circumstantial evidence” that the campaign and the Russians conspired to swing the election in Trump’s favor.

Really, Rep. Schiff? But you can’t tell us anything because it’s, um, classified. Is that right?

Imagine the buzz such a statement is making. No, you don’t have to imagine it. It’s all over the media.

It’s getting a bit testy in Washington, D.C., these days.

Neil Gorsuch is going through a grueling confirmation hearing to become the next Supreme Court justice; the president is twisting arms among House Republicans to get them to approve a GOP alternative to the Affordable Care Act; a terrorist struck in London, killing and injuring several bystanders; Republicans are calling for a special prosecutor to examine the Russia story; and the Intelligence Committee’s Republican chairman, Devin Nunes, blabbed to the president that his office in New York might have been the object of “incidental” surveillance by someone.

In the meantime, the FBI director has shot down in flames the president’s assertion that Barack Obama bugged Trump Tower.

Now we hear from the House Intelligence panel’s top Democrat that the committee might have the goods on whether the Trump campaign committed a potentially treasonous act by colluding with Russians goons who attacked our democratic electoral process.

Rep. Schiff has now acted in a sort of Trumpian fashion by teasing us with a morsel that might evolve into a full-course political meal.

Or … it might be a lot of nothing.

Which is it?

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Intelligence panel chair channels Trump with disclosure

Well now …

What in the world is going on here? The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Republican Devin Nunes says someone surveilled Donald J. Trump’s e-mail during the time between the election and when he became president of the United States, which seems at first blush to give a tiny sliver of justification for what the president has alleged about that bogus wiretap assertion.

Not so fast, according to the Intelligence panel’s top-ranking Democrat, Adam Schiff, who says Nunes didn’t follow anything close to proper protocol by making that announcement.

Not surprisingly, Schiff has doubts about what Chairman Nunes has suggested.

Schiff said the information Nunes reportedly has should have been shared with other committee members before he went public with it. Schiff said the committee hasn’t seen anything.

This makes me wonder: Is the chairman channeling Donald Trump, suggesting something out loud without any proof of what he’s saying?

Nunes isn’t saying, to be fair, that what he has discovered gives any credence to the bogus notion that former President Obama ordered a wiretap on Trump’s campaign offices in Trump Tower. Schiff, though, is angry with the chairman for blithely introducing this information without briefing other committee members.

He calls it a “profound irregularity.”

I just hope it doesn’t become a profound cover-up.