Media Conspiracy Theories About Devin Nunes Are Getting Out Of Control

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee secretly bought and paid for an information campaign alleging treasonous collusion between Donald Trump and Russia to steal an election belonging to Clinton.

The campaign was run by Fusion GPS, which specializes in spreading information into the media. Fusion GPS principal Glenn Simpson and British ex-spy-for-hire Christopher Steele secretly met with myriad media companies during the campaign and after the election to spread their dramatic tales claiming that Trump campaign affiliates were working hand-in-hand with Russian operatives, and that the Russians had compromising information on President Trump.

They also got the information — which they claimed came from Kremlin operatives and other Russians with ties to Vladimir Putin — into the U.S. government to secure widespread spying on the Trump campaign.

Literally nothing of significance alleged in the information campaign has been proven to be true. Yes, Russia is a country with Putin as a leader, and yes Carter Page visited Russia, but two years into one of the most thoroughly investigated issues of our time, no evidence has been provided to come even remotely close to proving Page is a mastermind spy who secretly coordinated with Russian officials to bring down America’s next president. Or that Michael Cohen went to Prague to make arrangements with the Russian officials. Despite the dramatic claims of Paul Manafort’s involvement in this Russian plot, Special Counsel Robert Mueller has told the court that nothing in Manafort’s money-laundering trial will touch on this claim.

Still, that weaponized information campaign was so successful that it spawned widespread spying on the Trump campaign followed up by a special counsel investigation without limits. At best, the media fell for the information campaign hook, line, and sinker. At worst, they were complicit in spreading information they knew to be false. Rather than admitting any gullibility or error, many media figures are absolutely desperate to save face.

The only way the country knows that the Russia conspiracy theory was a Clinton campaign operation that was weaponized and subsidized by the country’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies is thanks to congressional oversight. Two committees in particular have done actual work to uncover facts in the face of media misinformation: The Senate Judiciary Committee chaired by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, chaired by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.). Nunes has taken most of the heat for doing congressional oversight rather than congressional complacency.

Rachel Maddow last week aired secret audio obtained at a Republican fundraiser that featured Nunes. He spoke about the importance of Republicans keeping the House if they want to keep doing oversight rather than complacently accept a Clinton-funded and directed narrative of treasonous collusion. He also said that while he supports impeaching Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who has obstructed congressional oversight of the FBI, the timing is bad since the Senate needs to confirm a Supreme Court justice nominee. You can watch or read his remarks here.

It surprises no one that Maddow reported this secret audio breathlessly on her show, even if his comments were obvious. Of course the only people holding the FBI accountable for using Clinton campaign research to spy on the Trump campaign are a couple of Republican-led congressional oversight committees. Of course they can’t continue to hold those institutions accountable if they’re out of power. So obviously Republican victory to accomplish this goal is a perfectly normal thing to discuss at a Republican fundraiser where participants are probably aware that if Democrats take the House, they’ll promptly go after Trump.

The ostensibly less excitable media, however, aped Maddow’s spin entirely. They claimed that there were two dramatic aspects of the “secret” audio. One is that Nunes has a crazy idea that Democrats want to impeach President Trump and that the media and a politicized Justice Department are not the best protection against the plot. The second is that Nunes has political reasons for opposing Rosenstein’s immediate impeachment.

Here’s Marc Ambinder:

If that’s “least biased” I honestly can’t imagine what “most biased” would be.

The Washington Post headline was “Devin Nunes, in secretly recorded tape, tells donors GOP majority is necessary to protect Trump: ‘We’re the only ones.’” The article by Isaac Stanley-Becker is downright hilarious. It makes Maddow seem calm.

Read more