Is Devin Nunes Obstructing Justice?
In additional comments to the press, the committee staff director noted the memo was a “‘team effort’
that involved investigators who had access to source material.”
Given Mr. Nunes’s own close relations to the White House as a former member of the executive committee of the Trump transition team, and his previous history conferring with White House officials on matters under investigation by his committee, it is fair to surmise
that his staff, perhaps at his direction, may have coordinated the memo with the White House.
According to press accounts, the Nunes memo may be designed at least in part to provide the president an excuse for firing Deputy Attorney
General Rod Rosenstein, the individual with supervisory authority over Mr. Mueller, the special counsel in charge of the investigation.
This risk emerged when Repesentative Mike Quigley, a Democrat on the committee, asked
Mr. Nunes whether he or his staff coordinated the memo with the White House.
Facing a second round of questions on this issue during a committee meeting last week, Mr. Nunes again demurred, except to read a narrow statement
that the White House was not involved in the actual drafting.