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devin nunes
Devin Nunes Claims He Was 'Stalked' After Reporter Asked Basic Questions About His Role in Trump's Ukraine Scheme
"Based on this video, Nunes' depiction is an outrageous smear. Nunes is out of control. He's a public servant. He's functioning as Trump's servant."
Dec 08, 2019
Rep. Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, claimed Sunday that he was "stalked" at a $15,000-per-plate GOP fundraiser at the luxury Lotte New York Palace Hotel in Manhattan.
In reality, Nunes was approached at the GOP event Saturday by The Intercept's Lee Fang, who asked basic questions about the California Republican's role in President Donald Trump's efforts to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden's son, Hunter.
"I walked up calmly and asked a simple news question to the congressman. You can see everything I actually said and Nunes' trembling hand while he silently took my picture in the video I posted."
--Lee Fang, The Intercept
"Hey, Congressman Nunes. I just wanted to ask you really quickly: What were your calls with Lev Parnas about?" Fang said, referring to an indicted associate of Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani. "Were you asking about the effort to investigate Hunter Biden?"
Nunes walked away without responding to the questions.
When Fang approached Nunes a second time, the congressman pulled out his cell phone and appeared to take photos of Fang and The Intercept's cameraman.
Fang identified himself as a reporter from The Intercept and asked once again about the contents of his conversations with Parnas, which were disclosed for the first time last week in call records released by Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee.
"Were you part of this effort to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate Hunter Biden?" Fang asked. Nunes once again walked away without responding to the questions.
Sunday afternoon, Nunes posted a photo of Fang on Twitter and claimed the reporter "stalked" him at the GOP fundraiser.
"Maybe he was in Vienna with CNN," Nunes wrote, apparently referring to a CNN report that the California Republican traveled to Vienna last year to meet with a former Ukrainian prosecutor to discuss the effort to dig up dirt on Biden. Last Tuesday, Nunes filed a lawsuit seeking $435,350,000 in damages from CNN for publishing the story.
\u201cThis guy stalked me in hotel lobby after my appearance on \u2066@foxandfriends\u2069 Saturday AM maybe he was in Vienna with @cnn #goodnightVienna\u201d— Devin Nunes (@Devin Nunes) 1575836487
Fang was quick to respond to Nunes, calling the congressman's description of the event "weird" and "defamatory."
"I walked up calmly and asked a simple news question to the congressman," Fang tweeted. "You can see everything I actually said and Nunes' trembling hand while he silently took my picture in the video I posted."
"This was an event with many, many members of the House Republican caucus. Several lawmakers spoke to us as they arrived or left the hotel for the NRCC fundraiser upstairs. No one was 'stalked,'" Fang added. "Shortly after this brief interaction with Nunes, he had a Capitol Police officer stationed at the event ask hotel staff for us to leave the hotel, which we obliged without hesitation. The man with the beard seen next to Nunes then left the hotel and followed us around the block."
As Fang and Paul Abowd reported for The Intercept Sunday, "Nunes has struggled to explain his rationale for concealing his communications with the men involved in the alleged pressure campaign in Ukraine at the height of their effort, which reportedly included a bid to withhold military assistance and the firing of an ambassador viewed as an obstacle to the strategy."
In addition to his conversations with Parnas, call records released by the House Intelligence Committee showed Nunes also spoke with Giuliani in April.
\u201cNotable in this report is the phone records obtained by the committee, which show, among other things, Giuliani conversations with OMB in April and calls involving Nunes, Giuliani, Parnas, John Solomon and more\u201d— Jeremy Herb (@Jeremy Herb) 1575403006
Nunes was widely ridiculed for claiming he was "stalked" after being confronted with basic questions about his role in Trump's Ukraine scheme, which is at the heart of the House impeachment probe against the president.
"This video depicts a journalist politely asking reasonable questions of Devin Nunes about his flagrantly corrupt conduct," tweeted Greg Sargent of the Washington Post. "Based on this video, Nunes' depiction is an outrageous smear. Nunes is out of control. He's a public servant. He's functioning as Trump's servant."
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'He Has a Lot of Explaining to Do': Call Records Show Devin Nunes Spoke With Giuliani Multiple Times Amid Ukraine Scheme
"Hugely incriminating" was how one commentator described the previously undisclosed call records.
Dec 03, 2019
The House Intelligence Committee's 300-page impeachment report released Tuesday made public previously undisclosed and "hugely incriminating" phone records that showed Rep. Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the committee, spoke with President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani multiple times amid the Trump administration's scheme to dig up dirt on Joe Biden.
According to the records, Nunes was also in contact with Lev Parnas, a Giuliani associate who was indicted in October on campaign finance charges.
Communications between Nunes--a fervent defender of the president--and individuals at the center of the Trump administration's months-long effort to pressure Ukraine to investigate Biden were viewed as "far and away the most damning" revelation in the Intelligence Committee's sprawling impeachment report, which accuses the president of attempting to "use the powers of his office to solicit foreign interference on his behalf in the 2020 election."
"I think he has a lot of explaining to do," Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), a member of the House Judiciary Committee, said of Nunes.
The Intelligence Committee report states that the calls between Nunes, Giuliani, and Parnas came on the heels of an April 7 column in The Hill by right-wing writer John Solomon, who alleged "wrongdoing by American Democrats and their allies in Kiev."
"Over the course of the four days following the April 7 article, phone records show contacts between Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Parnas, Representative Devin Nunes, and Mr. Solomon," the report says. "Specifically, Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Parnas were in contact with one another, as well as with Mr. Solomon."
"Phone records also show contacts on April 10 between Mr. Giuliani and Rep. Nunes, consisting of three short calls in rapid succession, followed by a text message, and ending with a nearly three minute call," the report continues. "Later that same day, Mr. Parnas and Mr. Solomon had a four minute, 39 second call."
\u201cNotable in this report is the phone records obtained by the committee, which show, among other things, Giuliani conversations with OMB in April and calls involving Nunes, Giuliani, Parnas, John Solomon and more\u201d— Jeremy Herb (@Jeremy Herb) 1575403006
As The Daily Beast's Lachlan Markay noted, the phone records show that Nunes--who has repeatedly attempted to discredit the impeachment probe into Trump by alleging improper conduct by House Democrats--"had engaged in his own behind-the-scenes communications with the very people at issue in the whistleblower complaint."
"Nunes never revealed those communications during the weeks of committee testimony," Markay pointed out.
In an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity Tuesday night, Nunes said he doesn't recall talking to Parnas, who said last month he is prepared to testify that Nunes met with a former Ukrainian prosecutor in Vienna last year to dig up damaging information on Biden.
Late Tuesday, Nunes filed a lawsuit seeking $435,350,000 in damages from CNN for publishing a story on his alleged meeting in Vienna.
\u201cHannity: Did you ever talk to this guy Lev Parnas?\n\nDevin Nunes: You know it\u2019s possible but I haven\u2019t gone through all my phone records. I don\u2019t really recall that name.\u201d— Acyn (@Acyn) 1575427073
Asked on Tuesday about Nunes' appearance in the call records, House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said "it is deeply concerning that at a time when the president of the United States was using the power of his office to dig up dirt on a political rival, that there may be evidence that there were members of Congress complicit in that activity."
Late Tuesday, the Intelligence Committee voted along party lines to send the report to the House Judiciary Committee, which is holding its first public impeachment hearing on Wednesday.
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#NunesResign Trends as Indicted Giuliani Associate Implicates Top Republican in Effort to Dig Up Biden Dirt
"Guy who accuses Ukrainians of meddling in a U.S. election sought Ukrainians to meddle in a U.S. election."
Nov 22, 2019
Calls for Republican Rep. Devin Nunes to resign spread rapidly on social media Friday night following reports that Lev Parnas, an indicted associate of President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, is willing to testify to House impeachment investigators that Nunes met with a former Ukrainian prosecutor in an effort to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden.
Parnas' attorney Joseph Bondy told CNN Friday that his client "learned from former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Victor Shokin that Nunes had met with Shokin in Vienna last December," news that sparked the trending Twitter hashtag #NunesResign.
According to CNN, Parnas and Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee and a fervent Trump defender, "began communicating around the time of the Vienna trip."
"Parnas says he worked to put Nunes in touch with Ukrainians who could help Nunes dig up dirt on Biden and Democrats in Ukraine," CNN reported. "That information would likely be of great interest to House Democrats given its overlap with the current impeachment inquiry into President Trump, and could put Nunes in a difficult spot. Bondy tells CNN his client is willing to comply with a congressional subpoena for documents and testimony."
\u201cIf this CNN report is accurate, that would mean that Nunes and his colleagues sat there every day accusing Schiff of meeting with the whistleblower (he didn\u2019t) and never disclosed that Nunes met with Shokin to get dirt on Biden. \n\nhttps://t.co/M5lbjbQ4gj\u201d— Ryan Lizza (@Ryan Lizza) 1574476695
Nunes has repeatedly claimed during public impeachment hearings that Ukraine may have meddled in the 2016 election in an effort to harm Trump's campaign.
"President Trump had good reason to be wary of Ukrainian election meddling against his campaign," Nunes said Thursday.
Fiona Hill, a former member of Trump's National Security Council, testified Thursday that Nunes' claim of Ukraine election meddling is a "harmful" fiction.
CNN story came days after The Daily Beast reported that Parnas, who was indicted last month on campaign finance charges, "helped arrange meetings and calls in Europe" for Nunes.
In a statement to far-right outlet Breitbart News, Nunes accused CNN and The Daily Beast of "defamation" and said he plans to sue both publications.
"I look forward to prosecuting these cases, including the media outlets, as well as the sources of their fake stories, to the fullest extent of the law," Nunes said. "I intend to hold The Daily Beast and CNN accountable for their actions. They will find themselves in court soon after Thanksgiving."
When CNN asked Nunes earlier this month about the reported Vienna trip, Nunes refused to answer.
"I don't talk to you in this lifetime or the next lifetime," the California Republican said. "At any time. On any question."
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