Thread by @kateirby

So I watched all of Devin Nunes' Fox News appearances this week, which all centered around impeachment. Thread on things that piqued my interest, and story from that here: fresnobee.com/news/local/art…

For those who don't know, he only talks to conservative media these days. And even on Fox News, he mostly limits his appearances to commentator shows like Hannity, Carlson and Ingraham, where his ideas get no pushback.

Here's one on Hannity on Sept. 26, where he tells viewers that of course Trump would want to find answers on the "Russia hoax" from Ukraine. Doesn't talk about Trump asking for an investigation into Biden, which is the crux of Democrats' issue.

On Sept. 27 he says, because the existence of the whistleblower complaint was leaked to the press, that "this really smells, and it's something we'll have to get to the bottom of." He speculates that it must have been the whistleblower leaking.

This all closely mirrors what Nunes and some other Republicans did on the Mueller investigation. Express doubt about the investigators, question leaks, make speculations without evidence on Fox News. "It riles up the base," @BobShrum told me.

@BobShrum On Sept. 30, after he, McCarthy and Jordan sent a letter to the ICIG asking for info on the whistleblower complaint form change, Nunes kept pushing that angle on Ingraham's show. The ICIG answered questions on that, but Nunes said it wasn't enough, they needed evidence.

@BobShrum He then keeps hinting that the "mainstream media" is in cahoots with the Democrats to ignore the whistleblower complaint form changes.

@BobShrum And another one on Hannity, on Oct. 1, where Nunes says because Democrats are conducting this investigation in the House Intel Committee that they are trying to hide the investigation from the American people. In his opening statement at a public hearing with Acting DNI Maguire..

@BobShrum ... last week, Nunes criticized House Intel Democrats for treating the investigation like a "public spectacle." Hearings this week have been closed to the public, but Democrats have been releasing some information.

@BobShrum A non-relevant note on how Hannity ended that show: "I want every American to know, those tractors, that's the work that Devin Nunes has to do tomorrow. He has a lot of tractor work tomorrow." Nunes had tractors in the background of his shot.

@BobShrum For those who don't know, Nunes has been under scrutiny for calling himself a farmer, suing people who said he was a fake farmer in 2018, and then declaring a farm worth less than $15,000 for the first time on his last financial disclosure.

@BobShrum Anyway, these Fox News appearances suggest he's going to do the same thing on Ukraine that he did on the Russia inquiry: sow doubt about the integrity of the investigation on Fox and then tell viewers that other media is in the pocket of the Democrats, so don't believe them.

@BobShrum And he's doing it on Fox shows where the host tends to agree with him, doesn't push back at all and really doesn't ask any challenging questions. At the same time, he's suing a decent amount of people who have been critical of him (up to 5 lawsuits now, 4 active).