In an extraordinary and deeply worrisome series of events, the House Intelligence Committee has voted by party line to release the so-called Nunes memo, a report that alleges political bias and misconduct by the Federal Bureau of Investigation into its probe of Donald Trump and his campaign’s contacts with Russian officials. Though only four pages in length, the memo is said by California Rep. Devin Nunes to reveal some sort of vast conspiracy to undermine the president. Today, House Speaker Paul Ryan hemmed and hawed about the political pressure being exerted against the FBI and by extension special counsel Robert Mueller.
Then, Ryan backed Nunes.
Though this may seem like just another partisan fight, it marks a serious escalation for House Republicans in their defense of the president. The Nunes memo represents “one of the most audacious efforts yet by Republicans seeking to discredit the FBI,” writes The Boston Globe’s Matt Viser, as well as “a striking turn for a party that has long had as part of its DNA a trust in law enforcement and the national security apparatus to now be promoting theories worthy of a spy novel.”
“The ‘party of law and order,'” Viser writes, “is becoming the party of “I’m just raising questions.'”
Democrats on the committee, led by California Rep. Adam Schiff, have been quick to denounce Nunes. They say the claims in the memo are at once broad and thin–“a profoundly misleading set of talking points attacking the FBI and its handling of the investigation,” in Schiff’s words. Moreover, they say the memo contains some classified information that should not be made public so cavalierly. They also object to the fact that Republicans blocked the release of their rebuttal memo.
In his press conference today, Speaker Ryan, as he has so many times before, made an effort to appear more reasonable than the most zealous members of his caucus while nevertheless endorsing a position that, in days gone by, would have been located on the far-fringe of American politics.
“I think because of all the loose political rhetoric floating around here, we need to make sure we explain that there is a separation” between the Nunes memo’s sweeping allegations and criticisms of special counsel Robert Mueller, Ryan said.
But if you thought that Ryan’s desire to protect Mueller’s investigation from political pressure meant he would tell Nunes to temper his reckless attacks on the FBI, you would be sadly mistaken.
