I commented on a couple of diaries with this bit of news that I hadn’t seen mentioned, and hadn't intended to diary it, but benjamin075 suggested that I should, so here goes. I’ve also added a bit more context since.
A segment on Rachel Maddow's program yesterday said that Nunes “supposed closed-door session" with Comey and Rogers today has also been cancelled, yet Nunes still has not re-scheduled the open session with Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan and former acting U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates.
Full show transcript.
Besides the 11 min video above, there is this reporting yesterday from Fox News on this second cancellation.
3/27/17 — Comey, Rogers appearance before House Intelligence Committee postponed
FBI Director James Comey and NSA chief Mike Rogers are not expected to appear Tuesday at a closed hearing of the House Intelligence Committee, Fox News confirmed. [...]
"Director Comey and Adm. Rogers could not come in tomorrow as we’d hoped, so the Committee will continue to try to schedule a time when both of them can meet with us in closed session," a spokesperson for Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said in an email to Fox News. [...]
Comey and Rogers still could come at a later date.
There will now be no hearing on Tuesday, though Nunes' office noted that didn't mean the hearing was canceled -- because it had never officially been scheduled.
"We tried to get it organized for tomorrow, but it didn’t work out," a spokesperson said.
I put together a short, if sloppy, timeline with a bit of help from Wired. (If I’ve left something important out, have the dates wrong, etc., do let me know in the comments.)
- 3/14/17 - Tuesday - Invitation to Yates to testify at an open hearing on 3/28/17.
- 3/20/17 - Monday morning - James Comey and Mike Rogers testify in open hearing.
- 3/20/17 - Monday evening - Whitehouse freaks out after hearing.
- 3/21/17 - Tuesday night - Nunes’ clandestine rendevous with "someone" on the Whitehouse grounds.
- 3/22/17 - Wednesday afternoon - Nunes confers with Paul Ryan to discuss (fill in the blank), then Nunes holds a press conferences as he bumbles through excuses about the "very important news" he has just received. He then breathlessly runs to the WH with the info, and then holds yet another briefing for the press. (I won't detail what he said at each briefing because I'm getting confused.)
- 3/23/17 - Thursday - Yates attorney writes to DOJ for clarification on testimony she can give.
- 3/24/17 - Friday - DOJ punts the ball and says that Yates needs to consult directly with the WH regarding her testimony.
- 3/24/17 - Friday morning/afternoon? - Nunes abruptly cancels "postpones" the open hearing that was scheduled because he first needs to hold a closed session with Comey and Rogers. This was just after "On Friday, when Yates's lawyer sent a letter to the White House indicating that she still wanted to testify, the hearing was canceled."
- 3/27/17 - Monday - Nunes THEN also cancels that "very important" closed session with Comey and Rogers, because it wasn’t scheduled to begin with FFS, and as far as we know nothing has more has been re-scheduled.
- 3/28/17 - Tuesday - Disclosure of correspondence between the DOJ and David O'Neill, Yates attorney.
- 3/28/17- UPDATE 4:00pm — Tuesday — All Intelligence committee meetings previously scheduled for this week are cancelled.
This just in about an hour ago from CNN.
Nunes: House intel committee invites Comey to testify
House Intelligence committee Chairman Devin Nunes said Tuesday he has invited FBI Director James Comey to testify again before House investigators.
Nunes did not say when he expected Comey to testify, only that he had extended the formal invitation.
Nunes originally planned to have Comey and National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers testify in private Tuesday, but he canceled the meeting Monday. [. . .]
Schiff said he only wanted Comey to testify if it was not behind closed doors.
"We certainly welcome the director to come back, but not in lieu of a public hearing," Schiff said.
OK, so Nunes says he had to cancel the open hearing, scheduled for today, last Friday because he needed to first have a closed session with Comey and Rogers instead, and then cancelled that one as well yesterday, and is just now getting around to inviting them again? I thought he’d done that last week.
I honestly would be surprised beyond belief if this meeting with Comey and Rogers ever happens again.
All of these events, in just over a week, are laughable and beggars belief — except that they’ve actually happened, and are what Fitzgerald called "throwing sand in the umpire's face, . . ." Speaking to the choir, it’s no longer whether this is bigger than Watergate — it's 100 times worse.
IANAL — But this whole affair is simply an Obstruction of Justice, and heads need to roll.
