Nunes Caught Up in International Conspiracy Quest in Defense of Trump
Late last night, CNN reported that Rep. Devin Nunes worked with criminally indicted Giuliani-associate, Lev Parnas, to arrange a meeting in Vienna to discuss digging up dirt on one of the President Trump’s political rivals. This new reporting would suggest that, for the first time, the efforts to dig up dirt on the President’s political rivals involved a member of Congress – Rep. Devin Nunes.
Not only was Rep. Nunes a Member of Congress, at the time of his European conspiracy quests but, he was STILL serving as the Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence as he pressured a foreign government to dig up political dirt on a Democrat. This is not the first time Rep. Nunes has gotten caught up acting inappropriately and unethically while serving as President Trump’s Chief Congressional Defender and abusing his Chairmanship.
“When Rep. Devin Nunes isn’t palling around with the soon-to-be criminally indicted, he’s traveling around Europe trying to pressure foreign governments to dig up dirt on President Trump’s political rivals. Next on his to do list will be serving as a material witness as he answers for his action,” said DCCC Spokesperson, Andy Orellana. “Nunes’ complete absence from the Central Valley and his inability to prioritize the needs of those in CA-22 will be ignored at his own peril. At the end of the day, Central Valley voters are running out of patience.”
Read latest about Rep. Devin Nunes’ international conspiracy quest HERE or BELOW.
A lawyer for an indicted associate of Rudy Giuliani tells CNN that his client is willing to tell Congress about meetings the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee had in Vienna last year with a former Ukrainian prosecutor to discuss digging up dirt on Joe Biden.
The attorney, Joseph A. Bondy, represents Lev Parnas, the recently indicted Soviet-born American who worked with Giuliani to push claims of Democratic corruption in Ukraine. Bondy said that Parnas was told directly by the former Ukrainian official that he met last year in Vienna with Rep. Devin Nunes.
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Nunes is one of President Donald Trump’s key allies in Congress and has emerged as a staunch defender of the President during the impeachment inquiry, which he has frequently labeled as a “circus.” Nunes declined repeated requests for comment.
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Parnas says he worked to put Nunes in touch with Ukrainians who could help Nunes dig up dirt on Biden and Democrats in Ukraine, according to Bondy.
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Giuliani has told CNN previously about his conversations with Shokin and Parnas, saying that this was part of his legal work for his client, President Trump. Parnas’ claims about Nunes’ alleged involvement offers a new wrinkle and for the first time suggests the efforts to dig up dirt on the Bidens involved a member of Congress.
Parnas’ claims that Nunes met with Shokin, which has not been previously reported, add further context to a Daily Beast report that Parnas helped arrange meetings and calls in Europe for Nunes last year, citing another Parnas’ lawyer, Ed McMahon.
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Parnas, who was indicted on federal campaign finance charges last month, worked with Shokin and Giuliani to push a pair of unfounded claims: that Ukrainians interfered in the 2016 election on behalf of Democrats, and that Biden was acting corruptly in Ukraine on behalf of his son Hunter, who sat on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings. According to Bondy, Parnas claims Nunes worked to push similar allegations of Democratic corruption.
“Nunes had told Shokin of the urgent need to launch investigations into Burisma, Joe and Hunter Biden, and any purported Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election,” Bondy told CNN.
There is no evidence that the Bidens acted inappropriately. Nor is there evidence to support the conspiracy theory that Ukraine worked with Democrats to interfere in the 2016 election.
Yet these claims have been a key part of the public defense of the President put forth by Nunes and other Republicans during the impeachment hearings this month.
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Over the past two weeks, CNN approached Nunes on two occasions and reached out to his communications staff to get comment for this story.
In the Capitol on Nov. 14, as CNN began to ask a question about the trip to Vienna, Nunes interjected and said, “I don’t talk to you in this lifetime or the next lifetime.”
“At any time,” Nunes added. “On any question.”
Asked again on Thursday about his travel to Vienna and his interactions with Shokin and Parnas, Nunes gave a similar response.
“To be perfectly clear, I don’t acknowledge any questions from you in this lifetime or the next lifetime,” Nunes said while leaving the impeachment hearing. “I don’t acknowledge any question from you ever.”
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A trip to Europe
Congressional travel records show that Nunes and three aides traveled to Europe from November 30 to December 3, 2018. The records do not specify that Nunes and his staff went to Vienna or Austria, and Nunes was not required to disclose the exact details of the trip.
Nunes’ entourage included retired colonel Derek Harvey, who had previously worked for Trump on the National Security Council, and now works for Nunes on the House Intelligence Committee. Harvey declined to comment.
Bondy told CNN that Nunes planned the trip to Vienna after Republicans lost control of the House in the mid-term elections on Nov. 6, 2018.
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Nunes meeting with Parnas
Bondy says that according to his client, following a brief in-person meeting in late 2018, Parnas and Nunes had at least two more phone conversations, and that Nunes instructed Parnas to work with Harvey on the Ukraine matters.
Parnas says that shortly after the Vienna trip, he and Harvey met at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, where they discussed claims about the Bidens as well as allegations of Ukrainian election interference, according to Bondy.
Following this, Bondy says that in a phone conversation Nunes told Parnas that he was conducting his own investigation into the Bidens and asked Parnas for help validating information he’d gathered from conversations with various current and former Ukrainian officials, including Shokin.
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CNN reached out to Harvey on multiple occasions for comment. Reached by phone on Friday morning, Harvey refused to comment and directed CNN to contact the communications director for Nunes. That person, Jack Langer, did not respond to numerous requests for comment from CNN. A spokesman for Schiff declined to comment for this story.
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