In the middle of his improbable from-the-White House, to-the-White House car-hopping, secret sign-in investigation, top double-naught agent Devin Nunes checked in with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. What did Nunes have to say about what had put him in such a lather?
“He had told me that — like, a whistleblower-type person had given him some information that was new that spoke to the last administration and part of this investigation,” Ryan said. “He briefs me about it, didn’t know the content of it, only knew the nature of it and that he was going to brief others.”
So, like, according to Ryan, when Nunes came to him after his visit to his unnamed “source” at the White House, Nunes “didn’t know the content”—which would indicate that he hadn’t seen the actual documents. Which would be very much at odds with what Nunes himself has said. According to Ryan, Nunes knew only “the nature” of the information and that it was “part of this investigation,” but Nunes has said that he read the documents, even writing down reference numbers so he could more easily locate them again. And … what investigation would that be? Nunes has repeatedly said the information had nothing to do with Russia. Is that what he told Ryan?
Also, did Ryan see the documents in question? At first his answer to that seems very clear.
“Did you ask to see the documents yourself?” O’Donnell asked.
“He didn’t have the documents, so I didn’t,” Ryan responded.
But less than a minute later, Ryan says something completely different.
“But he hasn’t. I mean, he hasn’t even informed the Republican committee,” O’Donnell said.
“Yeah, I have seen the actual documents. I don’t know that he’s been in possession of them yet.”
At this point, Ryan is saying that he has seen the documents, but isn’t sure that Nunes has seen them. And that’s far from the limit of the craziness.
If Ryan is to be believed, Nunes didn’t show him any documents. Instead, he turned up in Ryan’s office saying that someone “like, a whistleblower-type person” had given him some information. Ryan says Nunes showed him nothing, but Ryan also says he’s seen the documents. So apparently Nunes provided enough information for Ryan to track down either the whistleblower or the specific documents, and Ryan later sought them out on his own.
“Can you just help me understand that, though? Because if it’s a whistleblower, why wouldn’t that information then be shared with the Democrats on the committee, and even the other Republicans who haven’t seen it?” O’Donnell asked.
“I don’t know the answer to that question, you’d have to ask that person. I don’t even know who this is,” Ryan said.
At this point, Ryan denies knowing who the whisleblower-type person is. He doesn’t know the person. Nunes hadn’t seen the documents, so apparently doesn’t provide any deatails. But … Ryan has seen the documents?
Ryan also says it wasn’t his idea for Nunes to inform Trump.
“Did you encourage him to then go tell the president about it?”
“No, but I told him to just add it to his investigation,” Ryan said.
Then comes a cascade in which Ryan suddenly claims that he already know Nunes was “gonna brief everybody” followed by a question about why Nunes hasn’t briefed the committee, which is when Ryan pulls out the claim that he doesn’t know if Nunes has “been in possession” of the documents.
Ryan finishes off the things he doesn’t know with this gem …
“If we don’t know if President Trump is under investigation, why would it then be appropriate for a member of an oversight committee to then go brief the president?” O’Donnell asked.
“Yeah, but I don’t believe that he is. So I don’t think that he is under investigation,” Ryan said. “No one has suggested that he is, and not even in a vague way. I don’t believe that he is.”
This might be considered a suggestion.
FBI Director James B. Comey acknowledged Monday that his agency is conducting an investigation into possible coordination between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign in a counterintelligence probe that could reach all the way to the White House and may last for months.
Someone might have to, like, remind Speaker Ryan that this is the investigation. Did Donald Trump and members of his campaign collude with the Russian government to affect the outcome of the US election? He seems to have forgotten this.
Like the things Nunes has been saying, Ryan’s statements don’t seem to have the consistency of watered-down Cream of Wheat. He didn’t see any documents, but he’s seen the documents. He told Nunes to just add the information to his investigation, but he understood Nunes was going to blab to everybody. He’s not sure that Nunes has even seen the documents, so he can’t brief the committee — though he can brief Trump.
Could Nunes and Ryan not even spend five minutes getting their stories straight?
If you haven’t already done so, it’s worth five minutes to watch this interview on CBS.