Last week Devin Nunes (our Congressman), head of the House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, tried to fend off media questions about looking into contacts by Trump campaign officials or surrogates as a “witch hunt” that could end up with the press being investigated for talking to Russian officials. Despite the Committee’s own statement that one of the objectives of their investigation would be “Did the Russian active measures include links between Russia and individuals associated with political campaigns or any other U.S. Persons?”, Nunes has been unwilling to pursue such allegations. “There’s nothing there”.
Today, Nunes released this statement:
“One of the focus points of the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation is the U.S. government’s response to actions taken by Russian intelligence agents during the presidential campaign. As such, the Committee will make inquiries into whether the government was conducting surveillance activities on any political party’s campaign officials or surrogates, and we will continue to investigate this issue if the evidence warrants it.”
Notice the part of the statement in bold font: the committee isn’t focusing on whether anyone in the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians, they’re looking to see if the government was watching them! (Nunes was part of the Trump transition team)
This after President Trump Tweeted over the weekend:
Is it legal for a sitting President to be “wire tapping” a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!
Then:
I’d bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!
Followed by:
How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!
The President offered no evidence or sourcing, has not commented about it since, and as far as anyone can tell, is getting his “information” from Breitbart and other conspiracy sites.
Nunes was not interested in investigating whether or not Trump campaign officials colluded with Russian officials in the run-up to the election, but he’s ready to investigate the nonsense claim that Obama had Trump Towers “tapped”?
Many have pointed out (see what I did there?) that a President cannot “tap” the phones of a United States citizen. What may have happened is a warrant was issued by the FISA Court to access the computers at Trump headquarters, after the Justice Department or the FBI presented evidence of possible violations of law. If that’s the case, then Trump and Nunes’ might find themselves holding a very messy can of worms, opened at their own insistence.
I’m thinking I should order in a large supply of popcorn and soda pop. This show is getting better by the minute. The only downside? While all the media air in the room is being sucked up by this mess, the Republicans in Congress are gutting the Federal Government.
Alternating Currents 