On Wednesday the Daily Beast reported that indicted Giuliani associate Lev Parnas helped arrange meetings and calls in Europe for Devin Nunes to help with his “investigations.”
thedailybeast.com/lev-parnas-hel…
What he has to say is this: Last December, Nunes and a few aides went to Vienna and met with Viktor Shokin.
cnn.com/2019/11/22/pol…
He's the ex-Ukrainian prosecutor fired in 2016 at the urging of Biden—backed up by the US international allies and Ukrainian popular support—because he wasn’t cracking down on corruption.
Now Shokin has an axe to grind against Biden.
yahoo.com/news/devin-nun…
CNN pointed out that the timing of the visit (before the Dems took over Congress) was significant because. . .
[Looking for / manufacturing dirt on Democrats}
usnews.com/news/politics/…
See my timeline:
impeachment-trump.com
It doesn't matter whether or not Parnas is a reliable witness.
If Nunes is innocent, it should be easy for him to prove that with documents.
Let Nunes show the "official" business.
Plus Nunes had some aides (witnesses) with him.
[Narrator: The plot thickens]
In January 2019: Giuliani asked the State Department to grant a visa so Shokin could visit the U.S.
The request was denied.
documentcloud.org/documents/6542…
Narrator: Giuliani and Nunes have such nice friends. [That was written in the sarcasm font.]
Calls include Rudy Giuliani on March 29, and Nunes on April 1.
That was just after Solomon published his hit piece on Yovanovitch.
The Ukrainian Shakedown, remember, rests on the harebrained theories that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election, the DNC server is hidden in Ukraine, and Biden did something corrupt.
It's what Fiona Hill called a 'political errand,’ which is not properly part of American foreign policy because it benefits Trump [and the GOP] politically.
usnews.com/news/politics/…
Nunes, too, used his office and taxpayer money to dig up [manufacture] dirt on the likely 2020 Democratic nominee.
In other words, Nunes was part of the conspiracy he is supposed to be investigating.
Nunes' point: Trump was justified in taking them seriously.
Nunes consistently ignored the expert testimony and ranted about how the theories were fully supported by the evidence, and Trump had every right to believe them (and act on them).
While listening to Nunes rant, I wondered ⤵️ . . .
Or was he intentionally trying to corrupt democracy by subverting the truth?
(Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between evil and obtuse.)
They are creating pain and discord. From yesterday⤵️
(It's hard to distinguish evil from obtuse— but of course, they're not mutually exclusive.)
Here's the question: Is Nunes defending himself as well as Trump in the impeachment inquiry?
Nunes does not get to decide whether or not his own behavior was legal.
The impeachment inquiry and reporting surrounding the inquiry appears to be helping Zelensky's anti-corruption efforts.
This doesn't look good for Nunes.
There is some confusion about this.
A member of Congress (even in America!) is not allowed to:
(1) lie
(2) hide evidence, particularly receipts. . .
(3) then say, "I don't have to prove my innocence."
Actually, he has to account for all the money he spent, and why, and he has to tell the truth.
"personal liberty" is not to be confused with "freedom to cheat."
Trump is taking the same approach. He's refusing to hand over documents, forbidding people with direct knowledge to testify, refusing to testify under oath, and then saying, "nobody proved anything against me."
It doesn't work that way.