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Nunes slams China on handling of coronavirus: ‘They downplayed it’

Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., slammed China’s handling of the coronavirus, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, in an interview with Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures.”

Nunes, the ranking member on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, also mentioned that his committee was drafting legislation against the country, which is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, based on an investigation it has been conducting.

“They’re inefficient … They have people that are under authoritarian control. Think about it, the doctor that actually was the whistleblower on this ended up dead,” Nunes said. “If you look back to what the Chinese did, they probably had this in the late fall, especially early winter. Instead of like calling people in and learning how to help and develop a way for us to know how to treat this, they downplayed it.”

CORONAVIRUS: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, leaves a meeting with national intelligence inspector general Michael Atkinson about a whistleblower complaint, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2019. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

MNUCHIN SAYS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION NOT PUSHING BAILOUTS AS HE SEEKS TO CALM ECONOMIC ANXIETIES ON ‘FOX NEWS SUNDAY‘

Nunes’ comments come as China has complained about American politicians and publications blaming China for the pathogen, which causes a disease officially known as COVID-19, and its spread.

“Although the epidemic first broke out in China, it did not necessarily mean that the virus is originated from China, let alone ‘made in China,'” Chinese Ambassador to South Africa Lin Songtian tweeted on March 7.

More recently, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lijian Zhao hit back at U.S. officials like Nunes who have blamed Chinese lack of transparency on the global severity of the disease the WHO last week declared to be a pandemic.

INSIDE CHINA’S HIGH-STAKES CAMPAIGN TO SMEAR THE UNITED STATES OVER CORONAVIRUS

“We hope certain US officials could focus on domestic response & international cooperation instead of trying to shift the blame to China by denigrating Chinese efforts to fight the epidemic. This is immoral & irresponsible, & will not help mitigate COVID-19 in US,” he tweeted.

But that has not stopped U.S. officials like Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from using the terms “Wuhan virus” or “Chinese coronavirus” in their public statements on the disease.

These comments come as the Chinese government has already published a book touting its handling of the coronavirus in what has become a high-stakes PR campaign to protect the nation’s reputation on a global scale.

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Trump National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien did not hold back in Wednesday comments on China’s responsibility for the disease.

“Unfortunately, rather than using best practices, this outbreak in Wuhan was covered up,” O’Brien said at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative-leaning think tank in Washington. “There’s lots of open-source reporting from China, from Chinese nationals, that the doctors involved were either silenced or put in isolation, or that sort of thing, so that the word of this virus could not get out. It probably cost the world community two months.”

Fox News’ Barnini Chakraborty contributed to this report. 

Devin Nunes responds to Christopher Steele defense of dossier: ‘Preposterous’

House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes, R-Calif., told “Fox & Friends Sunday” that British ex-spy Christopher Steele “didn’t even know what the hell was in his dossier”  that was used to obtain surveillance warrants against former Trump campaign official Carter Page.

In his first public remarks since his controversial allegations of President Trump’s relationship with Russia were published in 2017, Steele told a group of students at Oxford University over the weekend that he stood by his much-panned dossier.

“Well, let’s remember the great work that investigative reporter Lee Smith discovered in his book, ‘The Plot Against the President,'” Nunes responded, referring to a publication questioning the origins of the Russia probe and the involvement of Democrats with the production of the unverified anti-Trump dossier.

CHRISTOPHER STEELE’S FIRM HITS BACK AT TRUMP, STANDS BY DOSSIER

Nunes said Lee discovered preexisting “proto-dossiers” produced by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic Party through the U.S. firm Fusion GPS, suggesting Steele “put his name” on the dossiers containing a variety of damning but unverified allegations against Trump that served as a basis for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants against Page.

“All Steele did was, he put his name on these dossiers that happened to be exactly what the FBI wanted in order to spy on the Trump campaign. So, Steele is not a guy who has any credibility whatsoever,” Nunes said.

EX-SPY CHRISTOPHER STEELE SURFACES AFTER FISA REPORT CHALLENGES TRUMP DOSSIER RESEARCH

“These are not his dossiers no matter how many times the fake news media wants to talk about it,” he reiterated.

“I think it’s been proven pretty clearly that he largely didn’t even know what the hell was in his dossier. So, for him to even be talking about this is unreal because if he wants to take credit for these dossiers, really, he should be sued for defamation and slander because — because they were fake.”

NUNES SUES CNN FOR $435M OVER ‘FALSE AND DEFAMATORY’ UKRAINE STORY

Nunes also rejected Steele’s claim that he communicated directly with Russian officials to gather evidence for his allegations, saying, “Do you think that the Russians, who were formally connected to the government in some way, would give Christopher Steele — who they know is doing some type of work for someone… that they would give him information on Donald Trump?”

He continued, “The whole thing is preposterous.”

Nunes also noted a document, sent by the British government in early January 2016 to the incoming Trump administration, which reportedly disavowed Steele and his credibility.

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“Now look, that document… went missing,” Nunes said, adding that the letter was critical for former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s defense. “Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee have asked, but like everything on this Russia hoax, the documents seem to disappear that are really important for the Trump administration and Republicans.”

Fox News’ Tyler Olson contributed to this report.

Devin Nunes vows to sue Washington Post over ‘demonstrably false’ report he told Trump of intel testimony

House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes, R-Calif., told Fox News Friday that he plans to sue The Washington Post over a report that claimed he went to the White House and told President Trump of purported testimony by a top intelligence official that Moscow is working to reelect the president in November.

The report also claimed that Trump “erupted” at Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire — who is being replaced by Richard Grenell weeks before Maguire’s “acting” tenure limit is reached March 11. A source who spoke to Trump about Grenell and Maguire told Fox News Thursday that the president did not appear to be upset in any way with Maguire.

TRUMP RIPS DEMOCRATS’ ‘REALITY SHOW’: BLOOMBERG SPENT $500M TO GET ‘EMBARRASSED BY POCAHONTAS’

“The most concerning part about all this is that we can’t talk about what happened in that meeting. So if anything in The Washington Post story or The New York Times story is true about Bernie Sanders or Putin’s plans and intentions, nobody who is on the committee or who has seen this classified information should be talking about it,” Nunes said on “The Story.“

“It gets worse when you have The Washington Post’s claim that I went to the White House,” Nunes continued. “[That] I went to the White House to tell the president really bad things and that he should fire Maguire.

Nunes remarked that the paper will “have an opportunity in federal court in the next couple of weeks to explain who their sources are because I’m going to have to take them to court — because I didn’t go to the White House, I didn’t talk to President Trump.”

The Republican lawmaker claimed that litigation is the “only way to get these guys to stop” publishing false stories.

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“They build a narrative, they plant the narrative, they write fake stories about it — things that should not be talked about, this classified information — and they run these stories.”

Nunes also expressed anger at the paper’s sources.

“Who the hell is leaking this if it is indeed true?”

When Faulkner asked Nunes to clarify whether he will seek to face the Jeff Bezos-owned outlet in court, the lawmaker replied: “I don’t have any choice.”

Devin Nunes slams Bloomberg over remarks about farming: He thinks it’s ‘like buying a Chia Pet from Walmart’

Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., who grew up raising cattle on his family’s dairy farm, responded Tuesday to former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg‘s comments about the alleged simplicity of farming.

Speaking with Sean Hannity from Tulare County, Calif., where agriculture is a vital part of the economy, Nunes said that Bloomberg is oversimplifying the work done by the economy’s agricultural sector.

THREE FARMERS RESPOND TO MICHAEL BLOOMBERG

“This is the San Joaquin Valley. We’re the breadbasket of the solar system, we like to say. Three hundred different crops grow here. And it takes a hell of a lot of experience to do it, generations of farmers. It’s very scientific.”

“Mike Bloomberg seems to think that this is just like buying a Chia Pet at Walmart and turning some water on it,” Nunes added. “That’s not how this works.”

In remarks at Oxford University‘s Saïd Business School in November of 2016, Bloomberg told an audience that he could “teach anybody to be a farmer.”

“It’s a process. You dig a hole, put a seed in, put dirt on top, add water, up comes the corn,” he said flippantly.

Nunes said Tuesday that in addition to growing food, the agricultural industry plays a vital role in ensuring that produce makes it to grocers across the country, including in Bloomberg’s home city.

“It is quite complicated and it’s not just the farmers, it’s getting that food safely all the way to a grocery store in Manhattan so that it doesn’t poison someone,” the congressman said.

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Nunes was joined for his appearance on “Hannity” by Matthew Leider, a local almond and citrus farmer who addressed Bloomberg directly.

“If Mr. Bloomberg would like to come to Tulare County, I’d be happy to lend him a pair of my boots and he can follow me around for three days and [I can] show him just how much science and government relations [I do] and [go] through the regulations on how just to every day turn on the water, irrigate our crops, and do pest and disease prevention,” Leider said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Devin Nunes says Trump ‘has to tweet’ to combat ‘hard left’ media after Barr backlash

House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes, R-Calif., fired back at Democrats who criticized Attorney General William Barr for his role in former Trump associate Roger Stone‘s sentencing and defended the president’s use of Twitter after he used the platform to comment about the ongoing criminal case.

“What’s happening here with Barr, I think people need to understand that he’s cleaning up the mess from not only the Obama administration, but also the mess that was left with the whole Russia-gate fiasco,” Nunes told “Fox & Friends Weekend,” saying taxpayers paid tens of millions of dollars to fund then-Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team “that went chasing and trying to put us into a status of a permanent coup against the president of the United States.”

Nunes’ comments came days after Barr himself publicly swiped at Trump, declaring Thursday that the president’s tweets about Justice Department prosecutors and open cases “make it impossible for me to do my job.”

TREY GOWDY INSISTS BARR WORKING HARD TO CLEAN UP DOJ

Barr made the comment during an interview with ABC News just days after his Justice Department overruled its own prosecutors — who had recommended in a court filing that Stone be sentenced to as many as nine years in prison — and took the extraordinary step of lowering the amount of prison time it would seek. The department didn’t offer an amended number.

Barr himself has been under fire for the reversal. Still, it was a highly unusual move for a member of President Trump’s Cabinet to criticize the president.

HANNITY PRAISES BARR INTERVENING IN STONE CASE

“I think what the attorney general said was very clear, that the president should be careful making comments about criminal investigations. One should not see that as anything other than but what it is,” Nunez said, adding that Barr “didn’t say to stop tweeting, because the fact of the matter is, with 90 percent of the media being hard left and really just working for the Democratic Party, the president has to be able to tweet.”

Earlier in the week, Trump applauded Barr on Twitter for the decision to reverse the sentencing recommendation, writing: “Congratulations to Attorney General Bill Barr for taking charge of a case that was totally out of control and perhaps should not have even been brought.”

“He’s built a powerful tool reaching millions of Americans, millions of people around the globe,” Nunes added, “so the president has to tweet. At the same time, the attorney general has to be able to do his job.”

JESSE WATTERS: WHY THE LEFT ARE ATTACKING BARR

He also said, “It’s understandable that the president can be frustrated,” and called Stone’s dramatic early-morning arrest by federal agents in January 2019 “ridiculous.”

“He’s built a powerful tool reaching millions of Americans, millions of people around the globe… the president has to tweet.”

— Devin Nunes on ‘Fox & Friends Weekend’

Nunes credited Barr for doing all he could with the resources at hand to clean up the DOJ and restore the public’s trust in the institution.

“What the American people have to understand is that this is not going to be cleaned up overnight,” Nunes explained. “There’s a lot of damage that has been done, and the left is very good at seeding people in. Remember, the Mueller team was $40 million. We have people within DOJ, dirty cops in the FBI, all over the government. We know what challenges the White House is dealing with all the Obama holdovers in the National Security Council…”

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“This is not going to be cleaned up,” he continued, “and I think what conservatives and the American people have to understand, there’s not some magic ‘Hail Mary’ pass. It’s about being in the trenches, one yard and a cloud of dust every single day to try to root these people out of government. And, Attorney General Barr and us in Congress have a difficult job ahead.”

Fox News’ Andrew O’Reilly contributed to this report.

Devin Nunes: This is the most important thing Trump has done

House Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said the impeachment fight revealed that one of President Trump’s top accomplishments has been exposing the left-wing or anti-Trump bent in much of the Beltway media.

Nunes said Thursday on “The Ingraham Angle” that the press in Washington, D.C., has always been unsavory, but their repeated expressions of outrage at every White House development has made their ideology clear.

“The most important thing the president has done — though all the things he’s done are very important — but he’s finally outed the media,” he said.

TUCKER CARLSON: CRIMINALS WOULD BE PROTECTED FROM DEPORTATION UNDER BILL AOC AND OTHER HOUSE DEMOCRATS BACK

“The media in this town has been corrupt. It took somebody like Trump to bring them out of their shell so now they will just openly go out and tweet about it late at night. They get drunk and send drunk tweets out. They are vicious to him and Republicans.”

Nunes added that he would like his Republican colleagues to stop paying the media any attention as they go about the people’s work.

“They are assassins, they are working for the other team,” he said of the press.

The Tulare lawmaker added that Trump essentially riled up the press by foregoing his prepared remarks in the White House East Room earlier in the day — when he reacted to the Senate’s impeachment acquittal.

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In his delivered remarks, Trump called out many of his GOP allies individually and praised them for their teamwork, at times riffing on them in a jocular manner.

He joked about Sen. Charles Grassley’s, R-Iowa, apparently gruff voice during hearings, Rep. Jim Jordan’s, R-Ohio, workout routine and Rep. John Ratcliffe’s, R-Texas, legal expertise.

He also made sharp remarks about his political adversaries, referring to former FBI Director Jim Comey as a “sleazebag,” and rebuking Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, for voting to convict him on one of two impeachment articles.

In closing, Nunes added that it is imperative for the Republicans to continue to rally behind the president and take back control of the House of Representatives in November to help in that endeavor.

House Democrats release new Parnas documents showing contact with Nunes aide

House Democrats released another batch of documents from indicted Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas on Friday, including messages that showed Parnas was in contact with a staffer for House Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes, R-Calif.

The documents also included photos of Parnas with Trump and Giuliani in various settings, as well as additional messages between Parnas and Connecticut Republican congressional candidate Robert Hyde, in which the two discussed the whereabouts of then-U.S. ambassador to the Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. Additionally, an unidentified individual with a Belgian country code appears to describe Yovanovitch’s movements.

“My contacts are checking,” the person writes to Hyde in one message. “I will give you the address next week”.

“Awesome,” Hyde replied.

“She has been there since Thursday never left the embassy,” reads another text.

Still another series of text messages also discussed the former ambassador.

“Nothing has changed she is still not moving they check today again,” the person tells Hyde. “It’s confirmed we have a person inside.” The next message reads: “Hey broski tell me what we are doing what’s the next step”.

YOVANOVITCH CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION AFTER DOCUMENTS SHOW SHE MAY HAVE BEEN SURVEILLED IN UKRAINE

Hyde has denied surveilling Yovanovitch, whose ouster is central to the impeachment inquiry into Trump, who faces a charge that he abused his presidential power by pressuring Ukraine to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden, using military aid to the country as leverage. Trump says the inquiry is a “hoax.”

At the time, Trump’s allies were trying to have Yovanovitch, who was seen as a roadblock to a Biden investigation, removed from her post. She was recalled in late May.

Messages between Parnas and Harvey were also included in the files, including one from March of this year in which Harvey asked Parnas for assistance in getting information on U.S. aid to Ukraine.

The pair arranged meetings at the Trump International Hotel, which included at least one meeting in May 2019 with Giuliani and John Solomon, a former columnist for The Hill.

Nunes has denied involvement in the Ukraine scandal, though he has acknowledged speaking with Parnas.

The document dump also included recent interviews Parnas gave to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and CNN’s Anderson Cooper. In his interview with Maddow Wednesday, a day after he provided a trove of documents and text messages to House investigators, Parnas said Trump contemplated cutting all forms of financial assistance to Ukraine — including much needed military aid — in exchange for an investigation into Joe Biden.

Parnas said Giuliani instructed him to deliver a “harsh” message to Ukraine that “all aid” to the country would be halted unless “there was an announcement of the Biden investigation,” among other demands. He claimed Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and Attorney General William Barr were aware of efforts by him and Giuliani to have Ukraine open the investigation for Trump’s political benefit. All have denied the claims.

Parnas also claimed Hyde wasn’t being serious when he claimed in some of those communications to know Yovanovitch’s whereabouts in Kiev.

“I don’t believe it was true, I think he was either drunk or was trying to make himself bigger than he was,” Parnas told Rachel Maddow.  “I didn’t take him seriously. I didn’t even respond to him most of the time. If I did, it was something like ‘LOL’ or ‘Okay’ or ‘Great’ or something like that.”

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Parnas and his business partner, Igor Fruman, were indicted last year on campaign finance violence violations. Nonetheless, Democrats say his revelation enhance their case for impeachment against Trump.

House Democrats have until 5 p.m. ET Saturday to submit their brief laying out the evidence in Trump’s impeachment trial. The White House brief is due by noon on Monday. House Democrats will then have 24 hours to respond to the White House brief, should they choose to do so.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

House Democrats release new Parnas documents showing contact with Nunes aide

House Democrats released another batch of documents from indicted Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas on Friday, including messages that showed Parnas was in contact with a staffer for House Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes, R-Calif.

The documents also included photos of Parnas with Trump and Giuliani in various settings, as well as additional messages between Parnas and Connecticut Republican congressional candidate Robert Hyde, in which the two discussed the whereabouts of then-U.S. ambassador to the Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. Additionally, an unidentified individual with a Belgian country code appears to describe Yovanovitch’s movements.

“My contacts are checking,” the person writes to Hyde in one message. “I will give you the address next week”.

“Awesome,” Hyde replied.

“She has been there since Thursday never left the embassy,” reads another text.

Still another series of text messages also discussed the former ambassador.

“Nothing has changed she is still not moving they check today again,” the person tells Hyde. “It’s confirmed we have a person inside.” The next message reads: “Hey broski tell me what we are doing what’s the next step”.

YOVANOVITCH CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION AFTER DOCUMENTS SHOW SHE MAY HAVE BEEN SURVEILLED IN UKRAINE

Hyde has denied surveilling Yovanovitch, whose ouster is central to the impeachment inquiry into Trump, who faces a charge that he abused his presidential power by pressuring Ukraine to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden, using military aid to the country as leverage. Trump says the inquiry is a “hoax.”

At the time, Trump’s allies were trying to have Yovanovitch, who was seen as a roadblock to a Biden investigation, removed from her post. She was recalled in late May.

Messages between Parnas and Harvey were also included in the files, including one from March of this year in which Harvey asked Parnas for assistance in getting information on U.S. aid to Ukraine.

The pair arranged meetings at the Trump International Hotel, which included at least one meeting in May 2019 with Giuliani and John Solomon, a former columnist for The Hill.

Nunes has denied involvement in the Ukraine scandal, though he has acknowledged speaking with Parnas.

The document dump also included recent interviews Parnas gave to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and CNN’s Anderson Cooper. In his interview with Maddow Wednesday, a day after he provided a trove of documents and text messages to House investigators, Parnas said Trump contemplated cutting all forms of financial assistance to Ukraine — including much needed military aid — in exchange for an investigation into Joe Biden.

Parnas said Giuliani instructed him to deliver a “harsh” message to Ukraine that “all aid” to the country would be halted unless “there was an announcement of the Biden investigation,” among other demands. He claimed Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and Attorney General William Barr were aware of efforts by him and Giuliani to have Ukraine open the investigation for Trump’s political benefit. All have denied the claims.

Parnas also claimed Hyde wasn’t being serious when he claimed in some of those communications to know Yovanovitch’s whereabouts in Kiev.

“I don’t believe it was true, I think he was either drunk or was trying to make himself bigger than he was,” Parnas told Rachel Maddow.  “I didn’t take him seriously. I didn’t even respond to him most of the time. If I did, it was something like ‘LOL’ or ‘Okay’ or ‘Great’ or something like that.”

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Parnas and his business partner, Igor Fruman, were indicted last year on campaign finance violence violations. Nonetheless, Democrats say his revelation enhance their case for impeachment against Trump.

House Democrats have until 5 p.m. ET Saturday to submit their brief laying out the evidence in Trump’s impeachment trial. The White House brief is due by noon on Monday. House Democrats will then have 24 hours to respond to the White House brief, should they choose to do so.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Nunes letter to ICIG demands answers about whistleblower complaint

House Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes, R-Calif., demanded answers Saturday from the Intelligence Community Inspector General’s office regarding the whistleblower complaint about President Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Nunes sent a letter to ICIG Michael Atkinson raising several questions about the complaint, which ultimately led to Trump’s impeachment, and repeated requests for information that he said went unanswered for months. While several officials met for closed-door sessions to answer questions following the complaint, Atkinson’s testimony has not been released to the public.

“He’s the only one of all the star chamber games that were played in the basement of the Capitol, with the secretive interviews. The only one that’s not released is the one with the IC Inspector General. That’s unacceptable,” Nunes told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.”

HOUSE INTEL REPUBLICANS INVESTIGATING INSPECTOR GENERAL HANDLING OF WHISTLEBLOWER COMPLAINT

Nunes, along with Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., previously had sent a letter to Atkinson in September 2019 in which they raised a number of issues related to the whistleblower’s complaint. Nunes’ new letter claimed Atkinson’s office has not responded satisfactorily.

Among Nunes’ main concerns: the decision to revise a form for whistleblower complaints that removed the requirement of first-hand information in order for a complaint to be relayed to Congress.

Nunes’ September letter had inquired about the update to the form that had left out the first-hand knowledge requirement, and how it had been dated August 2019 despite evidence that it was created on Sept. 24, 2019. Atkinson’s office later claimed that the form had been backdated in error because it had received preliminary approval in August. Now, Nunes is asking that if that was the case, why it took until late September for it to be posted alone.

“What he’s claiming is, essentially, ‘We’re just dumb, we made mistakes, it was a huge mistake,’” Nunes said Sunday. “That’s fine if you want to claim incompetence, but you need to have the documentation, the evidence to prove that you were indeed incompetent.”

FISA SELECTS FORMER OBAMA ADMIN LAWYER, LEFT-WING BLOGGER TO OVERSEE FBI’S SURVEILLANCE REFORMS

Nunes’ letter asked for information regarding all revisions to the form since May 24, 2018, as well as who approved them and copies of each revised version. Prior to then, the form stated that first-hand knowledge was required.

After media reports first noted the form change, Atkinson said in a lengthy statement that the whistleblower had actually filled out the older version of that form, which retained the requirement that whistleblowers have first-hand information. The ICIG revealed that the whistleblower had said he or she had first-hand information, as well as second-hand information, but it was unclear what the first-hand information was.

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The letter also sought ICIG policies regarding “the criteria for making a credibility determination” in cases where complaints have been deemed an “urgent concern,” such as the complaint about Trump’s call.

Nunes said he specifically wanted to know if Atkinson’s office changed its assessment of the whistleblower’s credibility in light of “incorrect or incomplete information” provided.

Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo contributed to this report.

Nunes letter to ICIG demands answers about whistleblower complaint

House Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes, R-Calif., demanded answers Saturday from the Intelligence Community Inspector General’s office regarding the whistleblower complaint about President Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Nunes sent a letter to ICIG Michael Atkinson raising several questions about the complaint, which ultimately led to Trump’s impeachment, and repeated requests for information that he said went unanswered for months. While several officials met for closed-door sessions to answer questions following the complaint, Atkinson’s testimony has not been released to the public.

“He’s the only one of all the star chamber games that were played in the basement of the Capitol, with the secretive interviews. The only one that’s not released is the one with the IC Inspector General. That’s unacceptable,” Nunes told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.”

HOUSE INTEL REPUBLICANS INVESTIGATING INSPECTOR GENERAL HANDLING OF WHISTLEBLOWER COMPLAINT

Nunes, along with Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., previously had sent a letter to Atkinson in September 2019 in which they raised a number of issues related to the whistleblower’s complaint. Nunes’ new letter claimed Atkinson’s office has not responded satisfactorily.

Among Nunes’ main concerns: the decision to revise a form for whistleblower complaints that removed the requirement of first-hand information in order for a complaint to be relayed to Congress.

Nunes’ September letter had inquired about the update to the form that had left out the first-hand knowledge requirement, and how it had been dated August 2019 despite evidence that it was created on Sept. 24, 2019. Atkinson’s office later claimed that the form had been backdated in error because it had received preliminary approval in August. Now, Nunes is asking that if that was the case, why it took until late September for it to be posted alone.

“What he’s claiming is, essentially, ‘We’re just dumb, we made mistakes, it was a huge mistake,’” Nunes said Sunday. “That’s fine if you want to claim incompetence, but you need to have the documentation, the evidence to prove that you were indeed incompetent.”

FISA SELECTS FORMER OBAMA ADMIN LAWYER, LEFT-WING BLOGGER TO OVERSEE FBI’S SURVEILLANCE REFORMS

Nunes’ letter asked for information regarding all revisions to the form since May 24, 2018, as well as who approved them and copies of each revised version. Prior to then, the form stated that first-hand knowledge was required.

After media reports first noted the form change, Atkinson said in a lengthy statement that the whistleblower had actually filled out the older version of that form, which retained the requirement that whistleblowers have first-hand information. The ICIG revealed that the whistleblower had said he or she had first-hand information, as well as second-hand information, but it was unclear what the first-hand information was.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The letter also sought ICIG policies regarding “the criteria for making a credibility determination” in cases where complaints have been deemed an “urgent concern,” such as the complaint about Trump’s call.

Nunes said he specifically wanted to know if Atkinson’s office changed its assessment of the whistleblower’s credibility in light of “incorrect or incomplete information” provided.

Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo contributed to this report.