President Trump awarded Rep. Devin Nunes the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Monday.
Nunes (R-Calif.) is the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee and is well known for investigating misconduct in the FBI’s 2016 Russia investigation.
Trump presented the medal to Nunes (R-Calif.) at a closed-door Oval Office ceremony attended by Republican congressmen including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), a source told The Post. Nunes’s family and staff also attended.
Another pro-Trump stalwart, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), also is expected to receive the award in coming days, but a date has not been announced.
Nunes was heralded in a White House press release, which the source said was close to Trump’s remarks, for his work reviewing the Russia investigation, which morphed into Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe. Mueller found no evidence that Trump conspired or criminally “colluded” with Russia.
“Devin Nunes’ courageous actions helped thwart a plot to take down a sitting United States president,” the White House release said.
“Devin’s efforts led to the firing, demotion, or resignation of over a dozen FBI and DOJ employees. He also forced the disclosure of documents that proved that a corrupt senior FBI official pursued a vindictive persecution of General Michael Flynn — even after rank and file FBI agents found no evidence of wrongdoing.”
The White House said Nunes “pursued the Russia Hoax at great personal risk and never stopped standing up for the truth.”
“He had the fortitude to take on the media, the FBI, the Intelligence Community, the Democrat Party, foreign spies, and the full power of the Deep State,” the release said.
“Devin paid a price for his courage. The media smeared him and liberal activists opened a frivolous and unjustified ethics investigation, dragging his name through the mud for eight long months. Two dozen members of his family received threatening phone calls — including his 98 year old grandmother.”
Nunes “uncovered the greatest scandal in American history,” the White House said.
“In 2017, Congressman Nunes launched an investigation into the Obama-Biden administration’s misconduct during the 2016 election — and began to unearth the crime of the century,” it said.
“As a result of his work, he discovered that the infamous Steele Dossier was funded by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. He found that a senior Justice Department attorney was married to one of the architects of the document. He learned that the Obama-Biden administration had issued Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants to spy on President Trump’s campaign and illegitimately unmasked several innocent spying victims for political gain.”
The awards ceremony for Nunes was not televised or open to the press, as is typical for the honor. Trump is scheduled to depart the White House on Monday for an evening rally in Georgia for a pair of Republican Senate candidates in runoff races.