Rep. Devin Nunes admitted that if a political campaign colluded with a foreign government to release stolen emails, it is a criminal act. He told donors this at a private fundraiser for Cathy McMorris Rodgers, which was secretly recorded by Fuse Washington.
Sound familiar?
Fuse Washington recorded the fundraiser in Spokane, and passed the recording on to Rachel Maddow.
Chairman Nunes is one of Donald Trump‘s most trusted surrogates and defenders in Congress and he has completely destroyed the integrity of the House Intelligence Committee of which he chairs by his own partisan and despicable actions in attempting to derail Robert Mueller's special counsel to protect Trump.
The release of this recording shows how corrupt he is. In a portion of the tape obtained by the Rachel Maddow show, Rep. Nunes describes in detail why it would be criminal for any U.S. campaign to use stolen emails from a foreign government.
REP. NUNES (R-CA): “Now if somebody thinks that my campaign or Cathy’s campaign is colluding with the Chinese, or you name the country, hey, could happen, it would be a very bad thing if Cathy was getting secrets from the Portuguese, let’s say, just because I’m Portuguese, my family was. So Cathy was getting secret information from the Portuguese. You know, may or may not be unusual. But ultimately let’s say the Portuguese came and brought her some stolen emails. And she decided to release those. Okay, now we have a problem, right? Because somebody stole the emails, gave ‘em to Cathy, Cathy released ‘em. Well, if that’s the case, then that’s criminal.”
What’s been alleged so far between the Russians and the Trump campaign is basically the exact same thing Rep. Nunes describes here except the usage of a cut-out to pass along the stolen emails a.k.a. Guccifer or Wikileaks to release the stolen information that helped Trump in the presidential election.
For over a year we’ve heard Donald Trump, his surrogates and members in Congress have said Donald Trump never colluded with the Russians in any shape or form. But in this tape, Devin Nunez proclaims quite clearly that collusion with a foreign government against a United States political rival is a crime.
We all know the term collusion isn't a criminal statute, the term is more like a verb in describing the criminal act.
In recent days we have seen the shift within Trump's legal team from the Trump campaign never colluded with the Russians to collusion is not a crime at all.
Rep. Nunes told a group of fundraisers that releasing stolen emails to help one's campaign is a crime, be it from Portugal or Russia.
Thanks for clearing that up, Devin!
If only he could be prosecuted for his obstruction of justice while "serving" as Chairman of the House Intel Committee. That would be justice too.
