CBS News: Now Nunes Wants to Build a Wall, Too
“In a sign of increasing partisan hostilities, Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee plan to construct a wall – a physical partition – separating Republican and Democratic staff members in the committee’s secure spaces, according to multiple committee sources. It’s expected to happen this spring. For now, some Republican committee members deny knowing anything about it, while strongly suggesting the division is the brainchild of the committee’s chairman, Devin Nunes, R-California.”
The idea for a physical partition separately the staff is a symptom of a larger problem, namely the hostile partisan atmosphere on the House Intelligence Committee. The breakdown has intensified in recent weeks, as Committee Chair Devin Nunes orchestrated the release of a 4-page memo alleging that the FBI mishandled investigations into both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, and that investigators are biased against the president. The ranking Democrat, Adam Schiff, vehemently objected to the memo’s release and is now seeking to release a rebuttal memo. The divide is unsurprising given the tenor of Trump’s Washington, but it’s worth remembering that, for decades, the House Intelligence Committee operated in a professional, bipartisan fashion, with broad agreement from members of both parties on the need to work together to promote American security interests. Now we have a house divided–literally.
