Devin Nunes , the House Intelligence Committee’s top Republican, appeared on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures . Nunes addressed recent CNN and Daily Beast reports of his involvement in the actions at the center of the impeachment probe into Donald Trump , Breitbart reports.
In particular, the reports suggest that Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas helped Nunes arrange meetings with Ukrainian officials — including former Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin — to dig up dirt on Trump’s Democratic rival, Joe Biden.
“I have been used to this for the last three years. The House Intelligence Committee Republicans, we continue to expose Democrat corruption over and over again. And what always happens is right when we expose them, what do they do? They go out to kill the messenger. So this week another fake news story.”
Nunes continued to highlight his recent announcement that he is planning to sue CNN and the Daily Beast after Thanksgiving for allegedly spreading fake reports about his involvement in the Ukraine scandal. Nunes suggests that he will be working with law enforcement and suggested that it’s “not okay” to create a media narrative using someone indicted on federal charges, referring to Parnas.
“We hope that CNN and the Daily Beast will cooperate with the court, they should comply with the subpoenas once we file this and go through different depositions. It should be fun.”
Nunes later said he’s the “last guy” that wants to go to court, suggesting the “totally corrupt” media pushed him to do so by working with “indicted criminals.” Nunes then criticized the peer pressure he experienced from news outlets, referring to them as “sick.”
As @DevinNunes weaves wild conspiracy theories to distract from the facts about @realDonaldTrump ’s Ukraine shakedown, we learn about his own dealings with a Rudy Giuliani associate now under criminal indictment. pic.twitter.com/oBGQogQ26M
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) November 21, 2019
Joseph Bondy and Ed MacMahon, who are lawyers for Parnas, reportedly claimed that Nunes made a secret trip to Vienna in December of 2018, where he allegedly met with Shokin with the help of Parnas. The pair of lawyers claim that Parnas is willing to comply with a Congressional subpoena and provide documents and testimony for the impeachment probe.
Per Vox , Parnas is currently on house arrest in Florida. The publication also clarified that it’s unclear if Parnas would be viewed as a credible witness, given the “serious allegations of financial wrongdoing” against him.
According to Vox , if Nunes did meet Shokin last year, then the efforts to discredit Biden and his son, Hunter, must have begun earlier than when Giuliani started speaking about them publicly earlier this year.
Nunes has refused to answer questions regarding his alleged involvement in the Ukraine scandal, and both CNN and The Daily Beast claim to have reached out to Nunes for comment on their pieces. Both publications say their requests were ignored.