No matter what you did today, you’re bound to have had a better day than Devin Nunes. Presented with information that people involved with the Trump campaign—including possibly Donald Trump—may have been caught chatting as part of an FBI probe, Nunes’ actions were to:
1) run screaming to Paul Ryan.
2) inform the people caught up in the criminal investigation.
3) hold a press conference.
Nowhere in this stream of unconsciousness did Nunes seem to consider the idea that he might brief his colleagues on the House intelligence committee, or that publicly revealing the results of FBI investigation might both endanger that investigation, threaten intelligence sources or methods, and illegally reveal classified information.
After Monday’s escapades in which every Republican on the committee demonstrated that they had less than zero interest in the actual evidence of wrongdoing and every intention of bailing Donald Trump out through any method available, the validity of the House committee as an instrument to investigate the Trump campaign was already deeply in dispute. Every GOP member, including Nunes, made it clear that their only concern was stopping low life leakers.
And then Nunes spent Wednesday digging a trench, then sinking a shaft at the bottom of that trench, then drilling a hole. And at the end of the day, unbelievably, he still left the rest of his committee utterly in the dark.
"If accurate, this information should have been shared with members of the committee, but it has not been," Schiff said in a statement that criticized Nunes for a "profound irregularity" in how he had handled the situation.
Whatever information Nunes was talking about, it has also not been shared with the Senate intelligence committee.
Senator Ron Wyden: “Representative Nunes’ statements would appear to reveal classified information, which is a serious concern. With regard to the substance of his claims, I have no idea what he is talking about.”
In fact, the only people Devin Nunes has talked to, are those he shouldn’t have.
Actually, don’t bother. At this point, Nunes should just get ready to brief the special prosecutor.
