Since Republicans won the Congressional majority six years ago, their powers have only increased with the election of a Republican president. But President Trump entered the White House with a lot of baggage which is at the center of investigations being conducted by the FBI and both the Senate and House Intelligence Committees. Specifically, over the last week, Democrats -- who are in the minority -- feel that the House Intelligence Committee's investigation could have been compromised by Republican Trump surrogate Devin Nunes.
Blasting News reported on what Democrats feel is the suspicious activity of the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Devin Nunes' whereabouts, his conflicting story and his presence on the grounds of the White House over the past week.
All of which are causing minority Democrats to demand Nunes recuse himself from the investigation or to step down. However, the power to make that decision relies on Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan to force Nunes out of the investigation.
Lead Democrats call for Paul Ryan to act
The same House Intelligence Committee that Devin Nunes is the chairman of held a hearing for FBI director James Comey and director of National Security Agency Michael Rogers on Monday, March 20, to get updates on where they were with their investigation. During that time It was reported that Nunes canceled another hearing that was scheduled for a former acting attorney general Sally Yates who was fired by the Trump administration in January, who initially raised concerns over former national security advisor Michael Flynn who spoke with Russian officials in December about lifting sanctions on them once they came into power.
Now the Washington Post confirmed the cancellation of the hearing, which would have not only have included the acting AG but also former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former CIA Director John Brennan.
The scandal has already forced Flynn to resign, but following this, it was reported that Devin Nunes met with someone on Tuesday night before would make an unplanned announcement in front of the White House Wednesday morning.
The announcement revealed an intelligence update that Democrats believe was providing cover for President Trump. By the time a week had passed, the following Monday the pressure for him to recuse himself has increased. On Monday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer asked Paul Ryan to force Nunes to recuse himself. But the House Speaker has apparently refused.
Nunes is protecting the President
According to one report by The Hill, Chuck Schumer expressed his view over Devin Nunes' recusal: "Chairman Nunes is falling down on the job and seems to be more interested in protecting the president than in seeking the truth. You cannot have the person in charge of an impartial investigation be partial to one side. It's an inherent contradiction." But as Blasting News pointed out before, Republicans have not expressed the same interest in pushing forward with an investigation on Trump for possibly colluding with Russian officials. The only few who have gone the distance to stand out and become alarmed by the chance that he has have been Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham.
The reluctance to focus on the Russian investigation was apparent from the hearings with intelligence officials where Republicans focused specifically on leaks rather than the Russian investigation, which Blasting News also reported on. When Nunes was asked why he gave the intel update in front of the White House last week, before giving it to Congress, he blatantly said it was his obligation to tell the President.
