GOP Rep. Devin Nunes tears apart impeachment probe, defends Trump
Republican Rep. Devin Nunes described President Trump’s call to his Ukrainian counterpart as “a pleasant exchange” and defended the commander-in-chief’s belief that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 US election to help Hillary Clinton.
The transcript of the president’s July 25 call with President Voldymyr Zelensky “actually shows a pleasant exchange between two leaders who discussed mutual cooperation over a range of issues,” said Nunes, the ranking GOP member of the House intel committee, during Wednesday’s first public hearing in the House impeachment inquiry.
“The Democrats claim this call [shows] extortion, bribery and a host of other monstrous crimes being committed against Zelensky. Yet President Zelensky insists there was nothing improper whatsoever about the conversation,” Nunes continued.
He also noted that Trump supplied Ukraine with weapons in its battle against Russian-backed separatists — something President Barack Obama did not do.
“President Trump was the first president to see that Ukraine was afforded Javelin anti-tank weapons. Note this important fact. The security assistance was provided to Ukraine without the Ukrainians having done any of the things they were supposedly being blackmailed to do,” Nunes asserted.
“So we’re supposed to believe that President Trump committed a terrible crime that never actually occurred and which the supposed victim denies ever happened.”
The California lawmaker also said Trump was within his rights to call for probes of Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden and any role Ukraine played in trying to sway the 2016 elections.
“The Democrats downplay, ignore, outright deny the many accusations that the Ukrainians did meddle in the election, a shocking about-face for people who argued for three years that foreign election meddling was an intolerable crime that threatened the heart of our democracy,” he said, referring to the Russia investigation.
“After all, if there were indications of Ukraine election meddling, then President Trump would have a perfectly good reason for wanting to find out what happened. Since the meddling was aimed against his campaign, he’d have good reason for sending his personal attorney to make inquiries about it,” he added, referring to Rudy Giuliani.
Both special counsel Robert Mueller’s nearly two-year probe as well as the GOP-led Senate Intelligence Committee concluded that Russia meddled in the election.
However, Nunes cited news reports that said some Ukrainian officials were hostile to Trump and wanted Clinton to win.
Trump has denied wrongdoing, calling his exchange with Zelensky “perfect” and the impeachment process a “witch hunt.”
