‘I marvel at his stupidity’: Lawmakers baffled by Devin Nunes -- but Trump loves his impeachment performance
Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) presented an alternate reality during the impeachment hearings that presented President Donald Trump as an innocent victim of a lengthy conspiracy between the Democratic Party, the news media and "deep state" bureaucrats.
The California Republican spun convoluted conspiracy theories that lined up with Fox News prime-time programming, but wasn't backed by any of the witness testimony, reported The Daily Beast.
“We’re supposed to take these people at face value when they trot out a new batch of allegations,” Nunes said during Tuesday's hearing. “The witnesses deemed suitable for television by the Democrats were put through a closed-door audition process in a cult-like atmosphere in the basement of the Capitol, where the Democrats conducted secret depositions, released a flood of misleading and one-sided leaks, and later selectively released transcripts in a highly staged manner.”
Nunes is threatening to sue CNN and The Daily Beast for reporting that he met with former Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin to discuss investigating Joe Biden, claiming those allegations made by attorney Joseph Bondy -- who's representing Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas -- are false.
The allegations are now under investigation by Nunes' colleagues in Congress as a potential ethics violation, but they did not come up during five days of impeachment hearings.
Instead, Nunes repeatedly brought up Democratic operative Alexandra Chalupa, who worked with Ukrainian officials to investigate Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort during the 2016 election, to portray Trump as the victim of a years-long conspiracy.
He also attacked the whistleblower whose complaint prompted the impeachment inquiry and questioned Biden's dealings in Ukraine.
Other lawmakers were baffled or amused by Nunes' statements.
“I marvel, first of all, at his stupidity in repeating every single day for the American people the worst allegations that have been made against President Trump,” said Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ). “Every day, we’re reminded about Trump Tower Moscow, and about the possibility that the Russians have compromising information on the president of the United States.”
Malinowski, who worked as a diplomat in Europe, said he was "saddened" to hear a fellow lawmaker pushing Russian propaganda about the 2016 election -- which former national security council staffer Fiona Hill testified that Republicans were doing for Trump.
"It is Russian propaganda," Malinowski said. "It’s shocking to me that a senior member of this body would accept that foreign propaganda as truth.”
The White House, however, was pleased with Nunes' performance during the hearings.
"Everyone thought he did a great job," said a senior White House official. "He wasn't there to be the breakout star, like a Jim Jordan or an Elise Stefanik, and throw major bombs or anything like that. He coordinated and led the committee and everyone watching was happy with what he achieved.”