Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Richard Burr (R-NC) on Friday accused his counterpart in the House, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), of creating a false narrative about Obama administration national security adviser Susan Rice.
Speaking to CNN after Rice was interviewed by the panel in closed session, Burr said he asked no questions about whether she improperly requested and revealed the identities of U.S. individuals swept up in intelligence reports—an accusation Nunes has made repeatedly.
“The unmasking thing was all created by Devin Nunes, and I’ll wait to go through our full evaluation to see if there was anything improper that happened,” Burr told CNN. “But clearly there were individuals unmasked. Some of that became public which it’s not supposed to, and our business is to understand that, and explain it.”
With an assist from the White House, the House Intelligence chairman in March embarked on a one-man crusade to accuse Rice of improperly unmasking the identities of members of Trump’s campaign in intelligence reports. Though President Donald Trump said he believed Rice’s actions broke the law, bipartisan lawmakers who viewed the same classified reports from which Nunes drew his conclusions said they saw no evidence of wrongdoing. National security experts also told TPM that it was within Rice’s purview as national security adviser to request that names be unmasked as she tried to determine the extent of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.
Nunes ended up temporarily stepping aside from the House investigation after ethics watchdogs accused him of improperly disclosing classified information in his public statements about Rice. He recently told CNN that he remains fully “read-in” to the House probe and never formally recused himself, however.
“I can do whatever I want, I’m the chairman of the committee,” Nunes said.
Give us a break ! First Spicer, then the Mooch and now Burr stabbing Nunes on the same day !!
(Please don’t take it personally, Allegra, you and the team are doing great, but it is getting late here in Denmark)
“The unmasking thing was all created by Devin Nunes, and I’ll wait to go through our full evaluation to see if there was anything improper that happened,” Burr told CNN. “But clearly there were individuals unmasked. Some of that became public which it’s not supposed to, and our business is to understand that, and explain it.”
It’s not clear, but I assume that’s about Nunes revealing the process and the information in the classified briefing, and not Rice revealing anything she unmasked.
“I can do whatever I want, I’m the chairman of the committee,” Nunes said.
Translation “L’etat c’est moi”
Thank you Senator Burr for your comments on Nunes. Devin Nunes is one of the most self-centered, self-aggrandizing little weasels in Congress, and thus a perfect acolyte to our whack-job “president.”
Burr also refused to travel to the WH the other day for the health care pressure session, explaining that he won’t go there until the investigation is over. He’s not running for reelection in 2022, ergo no need to kowtow to the NRSC/RNC.