U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions would have been the first member of the administration to have recused himself from the Russia investigation over the Kremlin meddling in the 2016 Presidential election. The second person would have been Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Cali.), after it was learned earlier this year that he was providing cover for the Trump administration. After his so called "midnight run," Democrats called for Nunes to recuse himself, a demand that was entirely rejected on partisan lines by the only person who could force him to recuse himself, House Speaker Paul Ryan.

It started with wiretapping claim

The pressure was enough to cause Nunes to "temporarily" step away from the investigation that that House Intelligence Committee he chairs was conducting. It wouldn't be long, however, before he would return to stir up controversy yet again. His involvement in providing cover for the Trump White House began with President Trump claiming that former President Obama had wiretapped phones at Trump Tower last year. At the time the White House was under pressure by Congress and the Department of Justice to come up with evidence for his claim.

As they continued to stall and ask for more time to reveal that proof, Nunes would "recover" confidential intelligence documents that intended to show this "proof." It was later learned that the "intelligence" was actually created by two members of the President's national security Council who were already unqualified to sit on the council.

While it's correct that the Obama administration's intelligence community had been monitoring communications between certain members of the Trump campaign and Russian officials, Nunes allowed him to focus on the "unmasking" of the names of U.S. citizens.

Nunes creates 'unmasking' scandal

The unmasking of those names would allow the Republican congressman to spin that unmasking as potentially illegal, something that Republicans could spotlight as suspicious, and build up as the opposition's diabolical intent to violate national security.

In a recent report by CNN titled: "Susan Rice, Senate intelligence panel privately meet," Senate Intelligence committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) admitted on Friday that the "unmasking thing" was "all" created by Devin Nunes. This generally points to the fact that Nunes himself embellished the suggestion that the previous administration had engaged in improper activity for the President's defense.

But Nunes' protection for the White House did not stop with the "midnight run." In his return to the public spotlight, it was reported that when the House and Senate intel committees were subpoenaing the Justice and Intel community, Nunes subpoenaed the intelligence community. He demanded to know the reasons why they unmasked those names, which has resulted in the investigation of Susan Rice. It was reported that on Friday, Susan Rice met with the Senate committee privately where she was questioned over accusations that she unmasked those names. Sen. Burr said that even though it was a Nunes creation, the committee needed to understand why it happened. Here's one report by CNN that refers to Nunes' involvement in the subpoenas.
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