The petition to House Speaker Paul Ryan and House Republican leadership reads:
"The independence of Rep. Devin Nunes as chair of the House Intelligence Committee is compromised. You must immediately remove him from the Committee, and help ensure an independent and transparent investigation of all credible allegations concerning the relationship between Donald Trump and the Russian government."
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One of Donald Trump’s most loyal congressional lapdogs – House Intelligence Committee (the Committee) Chair Rep. Devin Nunes – is doing everything in his power to undermine both the congressional investigation and the parallel FBI investigation into Trump’s Russia ties.
On Monday night, House Republicans voted to release the so-called Nunes memo – a blatant attempt to smear Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing the Mueller investigation. Democrats who have seen the memo, including Rep Adam Schiff, ranking member on the Committee, report that the so-called memo is really just Republican talking points making unsubstantiated claims to undermine the credibility of the FBI’s investigation.1 The FBI even issued an unprecedented statement publicly rebuking Nunes's conspiracy-fueled “memo” and expressing “grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.2"
Thanks to the progressive movement's activism, Nunes supposedly stepped aside last year from running the House Russia investigation after sharing classified intelligence directly with the press and the White House. However, he is still the Committee's chair and has been working to subvert its work in order to protect Donald Trump.3 If Paul Ryan really believes his own words that Congress is responsible for holding the executive branch accountable,4 he must now remove Nunes from the Committee.
Tell Paul Ryan and the rest of House Republican leadership: Immediately remove Rep. Nunes from the House Intelligence Committee. Click here to sign the petition.
It is clear that Trump and his cronies want the baseless Nunes “memo” released, even though members of his own party will not vouch for its accuracy, because it helps build their narrative that the Mueller investigation is a witch-hunt with Trump as its target.5 We now know that Trump reportedly demanded that Mueller be fired last summer, and the only reason Mueller is still on the job is because White House counsel stood up to Trump.6 It seems now that in lieu of outright firing, Trump and his lapdogs are doing everything they can to erode the public’s faith in the investigation and undermine Mueller’s independence.
Devin Nunes was a member of the Trump transition team, and his independence has been suspect for more than a year. But his latest actions go far and above stalling his committee’s investigation: He is now actively using his access to classified information to interfere in a separate independent investigation.
Nunes’ conspiracy theory-laden “memo” attracted major attention in part because thousands of Russian bots engaged on Twitter calling for the memo to be released.7 In any other era, the claims the memo supposedly makes would be laughable. Reportedly, it attacks the Rod Rosenstein, the Republican who is supervising Robert Mueller, because he signed off on a warrant to spy on Trump associate Carter Page, based on credible reports that Page had been collaborating with Russian spies.8 The idea that the FBI wouldn’t investigate him is ludicrous, but by dressing up fringe right-wing conspiracy theories as a “memo,” Nunes is making these absurd attacks mainstream – with the ultimate goal of discrediting Rosenstein and eroding public faith in the independent FBI investigation.
When Republicans voted to release the memo, they voted against even allowing the minority report authored by Rep. Adam Schiff, which points out the flaws in Nunes’ narrative, to be released to members outside the Committee.9 They also refused to allow the Department of Justice to review the memo for accuracy or redact anything that might jeopardize the investigation.10 What’s more, without redaction, the public release of the so-called memo could jeopardize not only the effectiveness, but even the safety of the FBI and other law enforcement officials.11
Republicans in Congress might hope they can obfuscate and redirect our attention, but if we make it clear we are paying attention and demand that they put the integrity of our democracy first, we can build pressure on them to act.
Demand that House Republican leaders immediately remove Rep. Nunes from the House Intelligence Committee. Click the link below to sign the petition.
- Kaili Lambe
CREDO Action
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