Hanson: Demonization of Nunes is a window into our times
Much of what we now know about the unethical and often illegal behavior of the FBI, CIA, National Security Agency and Department of Justice emerged due to the efforts of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Its chairman during its stunning disclosures has been Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., who in turn has been constantly demonized for his efforts.
Yet without the committee’s digging, Americans would not have known that Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee paid for an unsubstantiated 2016 dossier on Donald Trump compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele.
Prior to the committee’s work, we did not know that the FBI and Justice Department used unverified information from the Steele dossier to obtain a warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court allowing for the surveillance of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.
Without the committee’s disclosures, Americans would not have had any idea that Bruce Ohr, who once ranked fourth in the Department of Justice hierarchy, coordinated opposition research on Trump with Steele, the FBI and Fusion GPS. Ohr took this unethical step because his wife was working for Fusion GPS — a fact that was withheld on federal disclosure forms.
MSNBC analyst Elise Jordan described Nunes as “a former dairy farmer who House intel staffers refer to as ‘Secret Agent Man’ because he has no idea what’s going on.”
“There’s certainly nothing in his resume that would have qualified him for the post,” wrote Peter Lance in the Huffington Post.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/opinion/20180915/hanson-demonization-of-nunes-is-window-into-our-times