When the history of the fight against the Deep State Coup is written, one name will stand high on the list of the defenders of democracy — Devin Nunes.
It was Nunes who in March of 2017 made a highly publicized trip to the White House in which he discovered that Susan Rice and others had “unmasked” dozens of US citizens who had been caught up in Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act wiretaps, namely members of the Trump campaign.
Nunes was roundly excoriated for his actions regarding that information, mostly on the grounds that he did not follow standard procedure. Well, as we have learned since then, it was standard procedure which led the FBI and CIA to target the future president of the United States, and it was Nunes working outside of normal bounds that provided the first clear evidence that Trump was the target of a Deep State Witch Hunt. If you’re not on the side of the Witch Hunt, you have to be grateful for Nunes putting the truth first and procedure second.
Blowhards like Sen. John McCain and little Adam Schiff were furious that Nunes didn’t follow standard procedure. He didn’t tell Schiff what he had learned at the White House but instead told President Trump and the American people. The months that followed have provided ample evidence of why Nunes was right not to trust Schiff!
As for McCain, he told reporters he had never seen a committee chair bypass its members for the press and the White House.
“Intelligence committees and armed services committees always work in a bipartisan fashion,” Sen. John McCain said on the “Today” show.
Do you think that McCain would be criticizing the despicable one-sided impeachment sham now underway in the House Intelligence Committee? I don’t.
But today Nunes, now in the minority, is doing everything in his power to hold chairman Schiff to account for his blatant partisanship in trying to oust President Trump.
The latest evidence of that came this week when Nunes, following the unfair rules established by Speaker Pelosi, asked Schiff for permission to call witnesses before the televised impeachment hearings that start next week.
First, he asked Schiff to gives a closed-door deposition so that his involvement with the whistleblower could be vetted. We know that the whistleblower approached Schiff’s Committee before filing his official complaint. We don’t know how much coaching he got from Schiff’s team. We also know that both Schiff and the Whistleblower initially lied about that contact.
Secondly, Nunes sent a separate list of witnesses to Schiff that included the unnamed whistleblower and anyone who helped the whistleblower prepare his complaint. These are to appear “in an open setting,” this ending the kid-glove treatment for the partisan whistleblower.
Also requested by Nunes were Hunter Biden and his partner Devon Archer, who both had seats on the board of Burisma Holdings in Ukraine and are believed to be at the center of allegations of corruption that President Trump was investigating.
Perhaps the most important witness of all is Alexandra Chalupa, a Democratic operative who worked with the Ukraine to develop dirt on Trump during the 2016 campaign. Her connections, if any, to the whistleblower will provide a smoking gun of Democratic complicity in the effort to take down Trump.
Also on the list is Nellie Ohr, who worked on the Steele Dossier with Fusion GPS and whose husband Bruce was part of the Justice Department cabal trying to entrap Trump in the Russia hoax.
It is highly doubtful that Schiff will allow any of these witnesses, which will establish that his inquiry is not a search for the truth, but a show trial aimed at railroading President Trump.
As Nunes wrote in his letter to Schiff, “Your failure to fulfill Minority witness requests shall constitute evidence of your denial of fundamental fairness and due process.”
WHO WE ARE
Frank Miele has spent four decades in the news business and now offers conservative commentary to counter the left-wing bias in the national media. If you enjoy reading these daily essays, I hope you will consider purchasing one of my books. They are available at Amazon in paperback or Kindle editions. My new book — “The Media Matrix: What if everything you know is fake?” — shows that Fake News has been around for years. The “Why We Needed Trump” trilogy tackles the politics of the last two decades: Part 1 is subtitled “Bush’s Global Failure: Half Right.” Part 2 is “Obama’s Fundamental Transformation: Far Left.” Part 3 is “Trump’s American Vision: Just Right.” Also consider subscribing to Heartland Diary on YouTube by clicking here for News Every Conservative Can Use.
Yes, Nunes will be a major figure as the history of this impeachment sham is written. He may be the one figure who was wiling to go beyond the call of duty to call them out in the name of justice. He is an American hero. RLS