Rachel Maddow got some audio tapes where Devin Nunes discloses a narrative they tell within the GOP “family”, like Putin paying Rohrabacher and Trump. He sticks with the logic made famous by his House Intel committee memos.
Trump will not be saved without a GOP majority, collusion is a crime, and impeaching the DAG is not really about justice, but tactics. As Professor Tribe says, it’s a mockery.
REP. NUNES (R-CA): “So therein lies, so it’s like your classic Catch-22 situation where we were at a – this puts us in such a tough spot. If Sessions won’t unrecuse and Mueller won’t clear the president, we’re the only ones. Which is really the danger. That’s why I keep, and thank you for saying it by the way, I mean we have to keep all these seats. We have to keep the majority. If we do not keep the majority, all of this goes away.”
REP. NUNES (R-CA): “They know it’s ridiculous to go after the president for obstruction of justice. But if they tell a lie often enough and they put it out there and they say, ‘Oh, we’re looking at the tweets,’ cause you know you’ve got a mixed bag on the tweets, right? Like sometimes you love the president’s tweets, sometimes we cringe on the president’s tweets. But they’re trying to make a political, this is all political as to why that story ran in the New York Times on the tweets.”
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.”
AUDIENCE MEMBER: “But also, on things that came up in the House on Rosenstein impeachment thing. And it appears from an outsider that the Republicans were not supported.”
REP. NUNES (R-CA): “Yeah, well, so it’s a bit complicated, right? And I say that because you have to, so we only have so many months left, right? So if we actually vote to impeach, okay, what that does is that triggers the Senate then has to take it up. Well, and you have to decide what you want right now because the Senate only has so much time. Do you want them to drop everything and not confirm the Supreme Court justice, the new Supreme Court justice? So that’s part of why, I don’t think you have, you’re not getting from, and I’ve said publicly Rosenstein deserves to be impeached. I mean, so, I don’t think you’re gonna get any argument from most of our colleagues. The question is the timing of it right before the election.”
REP. MCMORRIS RODGERS (R-WA): “Also, the Senate has to start –”
REP. NUNES (R-CA): “The Senate would have to start, the Senate would have to drop everything they’re doing and start to, and start with impeachment on Rosenstein. And then take the risk of not getting Kavanaugh confirmed. So it’s not a matter that any of us like Rosenstein. It’s a matter of, it’s a matter of timing.”
www.msnbc.com/...
Janz has made the race a direct referendum on Nunes’s relationship with Trump amid the ongoing Russia probe. Nunes has taken center-stage as one of Trump’s biggest congressional defenders — as head of the House Intelligence Committee, he's sought to discredit special counsel
Robert Mueller's Russia investigation and has accused the Justice Department of being biased against Trump.
Even though it’s not clear whether the controversy surrounding Nunes will be enough to make the race competitive, Janz has effectively parlayed the news into a strong fundraising haul, having raised almost $1.9 million this cycle.
Apparently McMorris Rodgers agrees with the Nunes interpretation.
Sabato's Crystal Ball managing editor Kyle Kondik tweeted that McMorris Rodgers's race was one of eight that that had shifted towards the Democrats' side in the latest edition of the website's House election forecast.
McMorris Rodgers's campaign did not immediately return a request for comment from The Hill on the rating shift. The district, which the congresswoman has held since 2005 and won by nearly 20 points in 2016, once voted to oust a sitting House Speaker, Rep. Tom Foley (D-Wash.), in 1994.
Another race that tilted in the Democrats' favor, according to Kondik, is the race in Pennsylvania's 17th District, where newly-elected Rep. Conor Lamb (D) faces a challenge from Keith Rothfus (R). That race has shifted from toss-up to lean Democratic, according to the forecaster.
thehill.com/...