'This began with Devin Nunes': Shep Smith exposes GOP's 'bogus' memo as a 'weapon of partisan mass distraction'

Fox News’ Shep Smith on Thursday tore apart the “bogus” Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) memo, tearing into the House Intelligence Committee chairman for hyping “a weapon of partisan mass distraction” meant to distract from the Russia investigation and "behoove" Donald Trump's relentless attacks on core Democratic values.

Smith was reacting to an anti-FBI memo written by Nunes that alleges impropriety on the part of the FBI and Department of Justice during the 2016 presidential election. That memo is the culmination of Nunes’ many efforts to distract from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and provide cover to Trump.

“This began with Devin Nunes,” Smith reminded viewers. “The same Devin Nunes who last year made White House surveillance claims, staged a rush to the White House to purportedly share surveillance information with the administration, but actually took information from the administration and staged a report of it.”

“At its core, it was PR,” Smith said. “And it was bogus.” The Fox News host noted Smith “will not share the memo in question”—not to investigators, the DOJ or his Republican colleague on the Senate intel committee. He also referenced assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd’s letter to Nunes Wednesday warning a public release of the memo without proper oversight would be “extremely reckless.”

“A memo can be a weapon of partisan mass distraction,” Smith said. “Especially at a pivotal moment in American history, when it behooves the man in charge for supporters to believe the institutions can’t be trusted, investigators are corrupt, and the news media are liars. Context matters.”

Watch the video below, via Fox News:

Shep Smith just totally shattered the Nunes memo narrative his colleagues Fox News have been pushing. pic.twitter.com/JAdkVjQOtA

— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) January 25, 2018