There are currently three different investigations being run on President Trump. One by the House Intelligence Committee, one by the Senate Intelligence Committee and another by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Of the three, it is the investigation by the House Intelligence Committee that is under threat thanks to the actions of the chair Rep. Devin Nunes who was a member of the Trump transition team and is now under fire by Democrats who are demanding that he recuse himself. Since then, however, reports on the details of what happened when Devin Nunes spoke to the Press that Wednesday morning is that he approached Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan who apparently gave him the okay to bypass Congress and take the information to President Trump.
Paul Ryan ordered Nunes to bypass Congress
On the same day that Devin Nunes made an announcement in front of the White House, MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell described the details of the week leading up to that Wednesday, which began with a House Intelligence Committee hearing with FBI Director James Comey and National Security Agency Director Michael Rogers. In his program called The Last Word, he detailed the hearing by both Democrats and Republicans where he said -- just as Blasting News did -- that Republicans were united in changing the subject during the hearing, from one about updates on the FBI's investigation on Trump, to one about leaks. He also referred to another member of the committee such as Adam Schiff -- who is a Democrat -- and Republicans John McCain and Lindsey Graham, who were all apparently shocked about what Devin Nunes did in front of the White House.
The question O'Donnell had at this point was, why did Nunes bypass Congress with the intelligence he claimed to have?
He answers himself saying that Paul Ryan had given him the go ahead. It's been reported since that Nunes did meet with Paul Ryan that morning and then met with Trump later that afternoon. Blasting News reported on the events leading up to when Nunes made his statement to the press before going into the White House.
It's also been reported that at that time, he went into the White House where he met with House Speaker Paul Ryan to give him the information. As O'Donnell puts it, it was Paul Ryan who told him to turn that information over to Trump and therefore bypassing the Congressional body for the committee who are calling for him to recuse himself.
As the call for him to step away from the investigation increases, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has asked that Paul Ryan step in to replace Nunes as he is apparently the only one who can but the House Speaker has refused.
Investigation now stalled until Nunes is replaced
Despite the increased demand that Nunes recuse himself from the investigation, the Republican Chairman is saying that the investigation will continue. However, Democratic member Adam Schiff has also said that the investigation by the House Intelligence Committee will not continue until Nunes is removed. It was reported that before Schiff made this statement, all meetings with House Russia investigators for the week had been canceled.
A report by CNN under the title: "White House evasive as House Intelligence Committee grinds to a halt" says that after Nunes apologized to Democrats on Thursday for bypassing Congress, he canceled a hearing scheduled for Tuesday, March 28, which would have heard from former acting Attorney General Sally Yates, former CIA Director John Brennan and former Director of the Defense Intelligence Committee James Clapper. Nunes also said he would prefer a closed session with Comey and Rogers so they can be more forthcoming with information they could not provide in a public hearing. Paul Ryan was asked again on Tuesday whether he believes Devin Nunes should step aside to which he simply said "no." Here is the video segment of Lawrence O'Donnell's view on Paul Ryan.
