"Based on this video,
Nunes' depiction is an outrageous smear. Nunes is out of control. He's a public
servant. He's functioning as Trump's servant."
Monday, December 09, 2019
Rep. Devin Nunes, the top
Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, claimed Sunday
that he was "stalked" at a $15,000-per-plate GOP fundraiser at the
luxury Lotte New York Palace Hotel in Manhattan.
In reality, Nunes was
approached at the GOP event Saturday by The Intercept's Lee Fang, who
asked basic questions about the California Republican's role in President
Donald Trump's efforts to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate
former Vice President Joe Biden's son, Hunter.
"Hey, Congressman Nunes.
I just wanted to ask you really quickly: What were your calls with Lev Parnas
about?" Fang said, referring to an indicted
associate of Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani. "Were you
asking about the effort to investigate Hunter Biden?"
Nunes walked away without
responding to the questions.
When Fang approached Nunes a
second time, the congressman pulled out his cell phone and appeared to take
photos of Fang and The Intercept's cameraman.
Fang identified himself as a
reporter from The Intercept and asked once again about the contents
of his conversations with Parnas, which were disclosed for the first time last
week in call
records released by Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee.
"Were you part of this
effort to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate Hunter Biden?"
Fang asked. Nunes once again walked away without responding to the questions.
Sunday afternoon, Nunes posted
a photo of Fang on Twitter and claimed the reporter "stalked" him at
the GOP fundraiser.
"Maybe he was in Vienna
with CNN," Nunes wrote, apparently referring to a CNN report that
the California Republican traveled to Vienna last year to meet with a former
Ukrainian prosecutor to discuss the effort to dig up dirt on Biden. Last
Tuesday, Nunes filed a lawsuit seeking $435,350,000 in damages from CNN for
publishing the story.
Fang was quick to respond to
Nunes, calling the congressman's description of the event "weird" and
"defamatory."
"I walked up calmly and
asked a simple news question to the congressman," Fang tweeted. "You
can see everything I actually said and Nunes' trembling hand while he silently
took my picture in the video I posted."
"This was an event with
many, many members of the House Republican caucus. Several lawmakers spoke to
us as they arrived or left the hotel for the NRCC fundraiser upstairs. No one
was 'stalked,'" Fang added. "Shortly after this brief interaction
with Nunes, he had a Capitol Police officer stationed at the event ask hotel
staff for us to leave the hotel, which we obliged without hesitation. The man with
the beard seen next to Nunes then left the hotel and followed us around the
block."
As Fang and Paul Abowd reported for The
Intercept Sunday, "Nunes has struggled to explain his rationale for
concealing his communications with the men involved in the alleged pressure
campaign in Ukraine at the height of their effort, which reportedly included a
bid to withhold military assistance and the firing of an ambassador viewed as
an obstacle to the strategy."
In addition to his
conversations with Parnas, call
records released by the House Intelligence Committee showed Nunes also
spoke with Giuliani in April.
Nunes was widely
ridiculed for claiming he was "stalked" after being
confronted with basic questions about his role in Trump's Ukraine scheme, which
is at the heart of the House impeachment probe against the president.
"This video depicts a
journalist politely asking reasonable questions of Devin Nunes about his
flagrantly corrupt conduct," tweeted Greg
Sargent of the Washington Post. "Based on this video, Nunes'
depiction is an outrageous smear. Nunes is out of control. He's a public
servant. He's functioning as Trump's servant."
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