Getty Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.)
On August 8th, Rachel Maddow of MSNBC released secretly recorded audio from a fundraiser held for Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers in Spokane, Washington on July 30th.
Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) is heard explaining to attendees that “working with a foreign country to release, for example, e-mails, would be criminal.”
Trump Inadvertently or Advertently Invited The Russians to Hack Hillary’s Emails Back in 2016
“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Trump said in a press conference in July of 2016.
“I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”
On July 13th of this year, 12 Russian intelligence officers were indicted by attorney Robert Mueller, a special counsel put in place by The Justice Department to oversee the investigation into Russia meddling in the 2016 presidential elections.
We now know the Russians hacked the email systems of the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and the private emails of John Pedestal (Hillary Clinton’s campaign chair).
We also know that the same day President Trump seemed to invite the Russians to hack Clinton’s emails, an actual attempt was made. According to Mueller, the Russians broke into servers used in Clinton’s personal office.
Part One of Nunes’ Leaked Tapes:
The audio was sent to Maddow by a nonprofit out of Seattle called Fuse Washington, the state’s largest progressive organization. A member, who paid to attend Cathy McMorris’ fundraiser, recorded the audio.
Thanks to @Maddow for featuring our audio of @DevinNunes speaking at @CathyMcMorris‘s fundraiser in Spokane! Cathy McMorris Rodgers is out of touch & has to go – help us elect @lisa4congress in November! t.co/VoKSQwF1Ke #waelex #BlueWave #BlueWave2018 #maddow #firenunes
A hundred protestors with signs reading “shame” and “stop Trump,” surrounded the Spokane Club where the fundraiser was being held.
At the closed-door event, Nunes said “if [Attorney General Jeff] Sessions won’t unrecuse and Mueller won’t clear the president, we’re the only ones.”
Part Two of Nunes’ Leaked Tapes:
Nunes, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, recused himself from the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election after the House Ethics Committee started looking into charges against him.
“Nunes may have made unauthorized disclosures of classified information, in violation of House Rules, law, regulations, or other standards of conduct,” The House Ethics Committee reported.
This was after Nunes chose to speak publicly about classified foreign surveillance reports he viewed at the White House that he said identified President Trump and members of his transition team, “whose names may have been mentioned by individuals under surveillance — or whose conversations with those individuals may have been incidentally picked up,” reported the Washington Post.
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) said Nunes hasn’t done anything wrong, and that he “fully supports” Nunes’ decision to step aside from the investigation.
“Chairman Nunes wants to make sure he is not a distraction to this very important investigation,” Ryan said.
Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation as well, after news broke that he was in contact with Russian officials during Trump’s run.
(Sessions claimed he did not remember those interactions until “they were detailed in media reports.”)
“If Sessions won’t un-recuse and Mueller won’t clear the president, we’re the only ones — which is really the danger. That’s why I keep, and thank you for saying it by the way, I mean we have to keep all these seats. If we do not keep the majority, all of this goes away,” said Nunes at the fundraiser.
Cathy “narrowly secured her seat” on Tuesday, Roll Call reported.
“With 46 percent of 5th District precincts reporting, McMorris led with 48 percent of the vote to 47 percent for Democrat Lisa Brown, when The Associated Press called the race.”
Part Three of Nunes’ Leaked Tapes:
Maddow in a recap of her show on Wednesday:
The case they’re making is that they either need to stop the investigation of the president, they need to stop the Russia investigation or they need to keep using the power of Congress to impede that investigation, or else, right?
That’s why they want to keep the majority. That’s the stakes for them keeping the majority. They’re using the majority to impede the investigation.
Last week, Trump asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions to end the Mueller investigation.
..This is a terrible situation and Attorney General Jeff Sessions should stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now, before it continues to stain our country any further. Bob Mueller is totally conflicted, and his 17 Angry Democrats that are doing his dirty work are a disgrace to USA!
Senator Lindsey Graham encouraged President Trump to allow the Mueller investigation to continue, as he believes it would lead to heavy losses for the GOP during the midterm elections in November if it were to abruptly stop.
“I don’t think [Trump] colluded with the Russians ’cause I don’t think he colludes with his own government,” Graham said.
“So why do we think he would’ve colluded with the Russians?”