A House Democrat said Rep. Devin Nunes threatened to sue him after he made the claim that his Republican colleague conspired with an associate of President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
On Wednesday, Rep. Ted Lieu of California said an attorney for Nunes sent him a letter threatening litigation if he did not apologize for accusing Nunes last month of conspiring with Lev Parnas in the Ukraine scandal.
Nunes admitted Wednesday night he now remembers a phone call with Parnas, who has been indicted on campaign finance charges and helped Giuliani try to obtain dirt on 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who sat on the board of a Ukrainian gas company.
“Devin, I’m adding to my statement: ‘Your pants are on fire,’” Lieu taunted his colleague in a tweet.
Amazing Lev Parnas interview on #Maddow. Also, I’m disclosing that the lawyer for @DevinNunes wrote a letter saying Rep Nunes will sue me if I didn’t apologize for saying last month that Nunes conspired with Parnas.
Devin, I’m adding to my statement: “Your pants are on fire.” https://t.co/2nptREunSk
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) January 16, 2020
Nunes’ acknowledgment came the same night Parnas claimed Nunes was “involved” in obtaining dirt on the Bidens as part of Giuliani’s campaign.
“It’s hard to see them lie like that when you know it’s like that scary because you know, he was sitting there and making all statements and all that when he knew very well that he knew what was going on,” Parnas told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. “He knew what’s happening. He knows who I am.”
Nunes was one of Trump’s most vocal supporters during the House’s impeachment hearings as he sought to discredit the investigation into the Ukraine matter.
Call records released in December showed the California Republican had been in contact with Giuliani and Parnas. At the time, Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said he didn’t “recall” Parnas’ name.
Nunes said Wednesday that after going through his call records he was able to remember where he was when Parnas called his cellphone.
“I remember that call, which was very odd, random, talking about random things,” Nunes said, adding that he told Parnas to talk to his staff.
