Campaign Action
Republican House Intelligence Chair Devin Nunes is turning out to be either dumber, more reckless or perhaps more compromised than we thought. On MSNBC Wednesday, former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance explained that Nunes, by going beyond the scope of his normal oversight responsibilities in Congress, may have sacrificed any criminal immunity he otherwise would have enjoyed in the course of performing his duties.
Vance offered the insight after she was asked about recently released Intelligence Committee transcripts revealing that Nunes refused to tell Democrats whether he had worked with the White House to compile his secret memo.
“That could end up being incredibly damaging to him in the long run,” Vance said, “because although he would have immunity for his actions on the floor of the House and his dealings with his colleagues, if this were ultimately deemed to be part of the pattern of obstruction that we seem to be seeing around the Russia investigation, then by cooperating with the White House—which it looks like happened here—he could be exposing himself to liability. Certainly I think he'll have an invitation to visit with Bob Mueller's team.”
Vance acknowledged that the speech and debate clause in the Constitution does offer "broad protection." But she added:
If he has gone outside of the work of his congressional subcommittee and is coordinating with the White House to develop a product that is intended either to distract from the Russian investigation or to give the White House a hook for firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, then this could fall outside of the immunity.
Vance noted that any such loss of immunity would likely be “hotly contested,” but she said Nunes’s actions give “the appearance of something that may have breached the protection that that immunity provides.”