In His Opening Statement, Nunes Slams The Media’s Impeachment Coverage: “Puppets Of The Democratic Party”

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House Intelligence Committee ranking member, Devin Nunes (R-CA) said in his opening statement on Tuesday that there has been in a “disconnect” between what’s been seen and heard in the public impeachment inquiry hearings so far, and what’s been reported by the “mainstream media.”

Nunes spoke ahead of testimony from Jennifer Williams, an aide to Vice President, and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, an Army officer who works for the National Security Council.

Emphasizing on the Republican’s argument in his opening, Rep. Devin Nunes raised questions about Democrats’ “prior coordination” with the whistleblower. House Intelligence Committee Chairman, Adam Schiff (D-CA), claimed last week that he does not know the identity of the whistleblower or communicated with them.

After last week’s testimonies from three diplomats who testified “without first-hand knowledge”, Rep. Nunes blasted the media for pushing sensationalized headlines with the terms: “shocking, damning, and explosive testimony”, adding that the press appeared to push the Democrats’ accusations.

“If these accounts have a familiar ring, it’s because it’s the same preposterous reporting the media offered for three years on the Russian hoax. On a nearly daily basis, the top news outlets in America have reportedly breathlessly on the newest bombshell revelations showing that President Trump and everyone surrounding him, were Russian agents. It really wasn’t long ago that we were reading these headlines,” the House Intelligence Committee ranking member said.

Nunes went on to cite several “false” headlines from the “mainstream media” about “Trump-Russia collusion” naming several outlets who were involved in pushing the Democrats’ narrative. “There was no objectivity or fairness in the medias Russia stories, just as a fevered rush to tarnish and remove a President, who refuses to pretend that the media are something different from what they really are: ‘puppets of the Democratic party,'” Nunes expressed. [Emphasis added].  (Continued Below)

“With their biased misreporting on the Russia hoax, the media lost the confidence of millions of Americans and because they refuse to acknowledge how badly they botched the story, they’ve learned no lessons and simply expect Americans will believe them as they try to stoke, yet another partisan frenzy,” the ranking member continued.

Then he outlined three questions that the Democrats and the media “don’t want to be asked or answered”, instead of shedding light on the crucial questions. “The media are trying to smother and dismiss them,” he said.

“What is the full extent of the Democrats’ prior coordination with the whistleblower and who else did the whistleblower coordinate this effort with? The media have fully accepted Democrats’ stunning ‘reversal’ on the need for the whistleblower to testify to this committee,” Nunes stated. (Video Below)

  • What was the full extent of the whistleblower’s prior coordination with Chairman Schiff, his staff, and any other people he cooperated with while preparing the complaint?
  • What are the whistleblower’s political biases and connections to Democratic politicians?
  • How does the whistleblower explain the inaccuracies in the complaint?
  • What contact did the Whistleblower have with the media, which appears to be ongoing?
  • What are the sources of the whistleblower’s information, who else did he talk to, and was the Whistleblower prohibited by law from receiving or conveying any of that information?
Rep. Devin Nunes full remarks:

He explained that the media have joined the Democrats in dismissing the importance of cross-examining the whistleblower since the witness has “successfully kickstarted impeachment”, noting that he has “disappeared from the story as if the Democrats put the whistleblower in their own witness protection program”. (Continued Below)

Rep. Nunes turned his attention to the 2016 election meddling involving Ukraine:

“What was the full extent of Ukraine’s meddling against the Trump campaign? In these depositions and hearings, Republicans have cited numerous indications of Ukraine meddling in the 2016 elections to oppose the Trump campaign. Many of these instances were reported, including the posting of many primary source documents by veteran investigative journalist, John Solomon. Since the Democrats switched from Russia to Ukraine for their impeachment crusade, Solomon’s reporting on Burisma, Hunter Biden and Ukraine election meddling has become ‘inconvenient’ for the Democratic narrative and so, the media is furiously smearing and libeling Solomon,” Nunes noted.

“I would like to submit for the record, John Solomon’s Oct. 31st story entitled: Debunking some of Ukraine’s scandal myths about Biden and election interference. I encourage viewers today to read this story today and draw your own conclusions about the evidence Solomon has gathered,” he suggested. (Read John Solomon’s story HERE)

“The concerted campaign by the media to discredit and disown one of their own colleagues is shocking. And we see it again in the sudden denunciations of New York Times reporter Ken Vogel as a conspiracy theorist after he covered similar issues, including a 2017 Politico piece entitled, “Ukrainian efforts to sabotage Trump backfire.” the ranking member pointed out. (Politico’s article can be read HERE) (Continued Below)

“Why did Burisma hire Hunter Biden, what did he do for them, and did his position affect any U.S. government actions under the Obama administration?” Nunes inquired.

“We have now heard testimony from the Democrats’ own witnesses that diplomats were concerned about a conflict of interest involving Hunter Biden. That’s because he had secured a well-paid position, despite having no qualifications, on the board of a corrupt Ukrainian company while his father was Vice President charged with overseeing Ukrainian issues,” he continued.

“After trying out several different accusations against President Trump, the Democrats have recently settled on “bribery”—according to widespread reports, they replaced their “quid pro quo” allegation because it wasn’t polling well. But if the Democrats and the media are suddenly so deeply concerned about bribery, you’d think they would take some interest in Burisma paying Hunter Biden $83,000 a month. And you’d think they would be interested in Joe Biden threatening to withhold U.S. loan guarantees unless the Ukrainians fired a prosecutor who was investigating Burisma. That would be a textbook example of bribery,” Nunes explained.

The media, of course, are free to act as Democrat puppets, and they’re free to lurch from the Russia hoax to the Ukraine hoax at the direction of their puppet masters. But they cannot reasonably expect to do so without alienating half the country who voted for the President they’re trying to expel. Americans have learned to recognize fake news when they see it, and if the mainstream press won’t give it to them straight, they’ll go elsewhere to find it—which is exactly what the American people are doing,” the ranking member concluded. [Emphasis added].

(Related: In His Opening Statement, Nunes Slams Dems Over Their “Day Long TV Spectacles” Before Reading The Latest Transcript)