A handful of journalists were left scratching their heads Monday after Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., claimed he never recused himself from the House’s investigation of Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 election.
“I never recused myself,” the House Intelligence Committee chairman reportedly said in an interview with KMJ’s Ray Appleton. “This was essentially made up by the media.”
Nunes announced on April 6 that he’d step away from the House’s investigation of the Russia issue, meaning a fair number of reporters were justifiably confused by his interview remarks.
However, the line that the congressman never technically recused himself isn’t new.
This is what Nunes said in April:
Several leftwing activist groups have filed accusations against me with the Office of Congressional Ethics. The charges are entirely false and politically motivated, and are being leveled just as the American people are beginning to learn the truth about the improper unmasking of the identities of U.S. citizens and other abuses of power.
Despite the baselessness of the charges, I believe it is in the best interests of the House Intelligence Committee and the Congress for me to have Representative Mike Conaway, with assistance from Representatives Trey Gowdy and Tom Rooney, temporarily take charge of the Committee’s Russia investigation while the House Ethics Committee looks into this matter. I will continue to fulfill all my other responsibilities as Committee Chairman, and I am requesting to speak to the Ethics Committee at the earliest possible opportunity in order to expedite the dismissal of these false claims.
You’ll note that his announcement, which came not long after he revealed the intelligence community had incidentally collected information on Donald Trump’s transition team following the Nov. 8 election, doesn’t include the word “recuse.”
Rather, the statement uses very careful and precise language. It’s also (likely intentionally) unclear what the congressman meant when he said he’d step back from the investigation would look like.
Nunes, who is himself the subject of an Ethics Committee’s investigation stemming from his incidental collection revelation, has clearly not recused himself entirely from the House probe. Since his April 6 announcement, he has reviewed data and other intelligence related to the Russia matter.
He has also signed off on at least three subpoenas related to the unmasking of U.S. citizens included in the intelligence sweeps, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Nunes, for his part, has defended his on-again/off-again involvement in the committee’s probe by saying – you guessed it – he never really recused himself.
“Simply put, I’m still the chairman of the committee,” the California congressman told Fox News this month.
“The way to look into this is that I’m still read into everything, but … I was going to set at least the Russia side of the investigation aside because I didn’t want to be the face of this investigation. But everything else, I’m still in charge of,” he added.
Whether this means he has honored the spirit of his April 6th announcement can be debated (it’d probably be easier and more forthright for him to go all-in or not at all). What is clear, however, is that what he said Monday isn’t new. This is his line now, whether it makes sense or not.
