>https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/democrats-lash-devin-nunes-plan-for-private-chat-with-barr
Democrats lash Devin Nunes plan for private chat with William Barr
House Democrats are sounding the alarm over plans by House Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes, R-Calif., to meet privately with Attorney General Bill Barr to discuss criminal referrals against federal authorities involved in investigating Trump and his campaign associates over the Russia collusion allegations.
In a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee this week, Barr said that he plans to investigate the probes and the collection of evidence that sparked special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Nunes joined other congressional Republicans in supporting Barr's probe, saying over the last several days that he will send as many as eight criminal referrals to the Justice Department. At the hearing, Barr told lawmakers that he was awaiting Nunes' information as the new probes unfold.
“We expect to learn more if and when the Department of Justice receives the referrals, assuming the department follows appropriate protocol and Barr holds any such meeting only with representatives of the majority and minority present," one Democratic Intelligence Committee member told Politico.
"[B]ut it is clear they believe they now have an ally in the attorney general to perpetuate their conspiracy theories of ‘spying’ and their determination to investigate the investigators, no matter how misguided and damaging their efforts are to our national institutions, or the dedicated public servants who work to keep us safe," the aide added.
But congressional Republicans continue to urge Barr to stay the course in investigating the launch of the Mueller investigation, arguing that the real collusion and violations of federal law are buried in the Democrats' attempt to tear down President Trump.
"Now that [Mueller] concluded that Trump did not collude with the Russians, which we all knew, it's time to see if Democrats and Obama and Clinton operatives broke the law in their attempt to smear Trump. We know the Steele dossier, which turned out to be fake, was illegally obtained and unethical in every sense of the word. Now we know that the Obama administration spied on the Trump campaign," a senior aide to a Republican member on the House Intelligence Committee told the Washington Examiner on Saturday.
"Democrats took a gamble and it failed. Now they don't want the spotlight on these issues anymore."
Nunes told Sean Hannity this week that is preparing a meeting with the attorney general and will be joined by fellow House Intelligence Committee colleague John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, who previously served as a U.S. attorney.