Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) is taking some heat on Twitter over his apparent confusion about what President Donald Trump and his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani have been up to lately.
In an interview with the Washington Examiner‘s David M. Drucker, Nunes played one of his usual and most familiar tunes–reflexively defending President Trump against the daily and ongoing controversies which seem to be ever-consuming the White House.
“I call it faux impeachment,” Nunes says at one point before later dismissing the House’s entire approach to impeachment–that is, in both form and substance–as “just a show trial.”
The impeachment inquiry is based, in large part, on a July phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. During that call, Trump asked Zelensky to re-open a long-shuttered corruption investigation into Joe Biden‘s son Hunter Biden due to the latter’s work on the board of a Ukrainian hydrocarbon company. The elder Biden infamously bragged about having the prosecutor in charge of that investigation fired–for apparently unrelated reasons. Political fortunes have spiraled since that call was unearthed.
Midway through the Examiner interview, Nunes says something interesting and surprisingly–if accidentally–on point. Per that report:
Nunes indicated that he would take issue with Trump and Giuliani if they purposely tried to pressure Ukraine, or other foreign governments, to unearth opposition research on Biden for political purposes. “If a president just randomly was parachuting his personal attorney down into countries where he thought he could get some dirt on political opponents … that might be questionable,” he said, but added, “That’s not what this is.”
The problem here, however, is that Trump and Giuliani are both accused of doing exactly what Nunes has described above.
A Fox News blockbuster report noted how Giuliani and two other attorneys were working on a secret project “trying to get dirt from Ukrainian officials on 2020 rival Joe Biden.”
“According to a top U.S. official, all three were working off the books apart from the administration,” Fox News’s Chris Wallace noted. “The only person in government who knows what they were doing is President Trump.”
The conservative-leaning Wall Street Journal reported that Giuliani and Trump “repeatedly” pressured authorities in the Ukraine to dig up dirt on Joe Biden and his son.
And as Law&Crime previously reported, Giuliani met with the former Ukrainian chief prosecutor on numerous occasions to push the investigation into the Biden family.
“Maybe the first time Devin Nunes has ever described something accurately and honestly,” former Barack Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau tweeted.
“What the hell is the difference?” asked award-winning reporter Sean Murphy.
“What is it then?” wondered Vox’s Matthew Yglesias.
Noted attorney and Twitter personality Luppe B. Luppen (Southpaw) tweeted a bit of meme-speak sourced from “Arrested Development” in response:
NARRATOR: That is what this is.
Trump, for his part, says the call was “perfect,” “congenial” and “very appropriate.”
[Image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images]
Editor’s note: this article has been amended for clarity.
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