| Dear Katy, One of Donald Trump's most loyal congressional lapdogs – House Intelligence Committee (the Committee) Chair Rep. Devin Nunes – is doing everything in his power to undermine both the congressional investigation and the parallel FBI investigation into Trump's Russia ties. On Monday night, House Republicans voted to release the so-called Nunes memo – a blatant attempt to smear Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing the Mueller investigation.1 Democrats who have seen the memo, including Rep Adam Schiff, ranking member on the Committee, report that the so-called memo is really just Republican talking points making unsubstantiated claims to undermine the credibility of the FBI's investigation.2 The FBI even issued an unprecedented statement publicly rebuking Nunes's conspiracy-fueled "memo" and expressing "grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy."3 Thanks to the progressive movement's activism, including the work of hundreds of thousands of CREDO members, Nunes supposedly stepped aside last year from running the House Russia investigation after sharing classified intelligence directly with the press and the White House. However, he is still the Committee's chair and has been working to subvert its work in order to protect Donald Trump.4 If Paul Ryan really believes his own words that Congress is responsible for holding the executive branch accountable,5 he must now remove Nunes from the Committee. Tell Paul Ryan and the rest of House Republican leadership: Immediately remove Rep. Nunes from the House Intelligence Committee. Click here to sign the petition. It is clear that Trump and his cronies want the baseless Nunes "memo" released – even though members of his own party will not vouch for its accuracy – because it helps build their narrative that the Mueller investigation is a witch-hunt with Trump as its target.6 We now know that Trump reportedly demanded that Mueller be fired last summer, and the only reason Mueller is still on the job is because White House counsel stood up to Trump.7 It seems that in lieu of outright firing, Trump and his lapdogs are doing everything they can to erode the public's faith in the investigation and undermine Mueller's independence. Devin Nunes was a member of the Trump transition team, and his independence has been suspect for more than a year. But his latest actions go far and above stalling his committee's investigation. News broke late Wednesday night that the memo Nunes sent to the White House was substantially different from the version the Committee voted to release.8 He is actively using his access to classified information to interfere in a separate independent investigation. Nunes' conspiracy theory-laden "memo" attracted major attention in part because thousands of Russian bots engaged on Twitter calling for the memo to be released.9 In any other era, the claims the memo reportedly makes would be laughable. According to those familiar with it, the so-called memo attacks the Rod Rosenstein for approving a warrant to spy on Trump associate, Carter Page. Rosenstein's decision was based on credible reports that Page had been collaborating with Russian spies.10 By dressing up fringe right-wing conspiracy theories as a "memo," Nunes is making these absurd attacks mainstream – with the ultimate goal of discrediting Rosenstein and eroding public faith in the independent FBI investigation. Tell Paul Ryan and the rest of House Republican leadership: Immediately remove Rep. Nunes from the House Intelligence Committee. Click here to sign the petition. When Republicans voted to release the memo, they also voted against allowing the minority report authored by Rep. Adam Schiff, which points out the flaws in Nunes' narrative, to be released to members outside the Committee.11 Republicans in Congress might hope they can obfuscate, but if we make it clear we are paying attention and demand that they put the integrity of our democracy first, we can build pressure on them to act. Demand that House Republican leaders immediately remove Rep. Nunes from the House Intelligence Committee. Click the link below to sign the petition. https://act.credoaction.com/sign/Nunes_russia?t=8&akid=27085%2E12967895%2E0u-Afe Thank you for speaking out, Kaili Lambe, Director of Organizing
CREDO Action from Working Assets Add your name:  | - Nicholas Fandos, "House Republicans Vote to Release Secret Memo on Russia Inquiry," The New York Times, Jan. 29, 2018.
- Nicholas Fandos and Adam Goldman, "Trump Clears the Way for Release of Secret Republican Memo," The New York Times, Feb. 1, 2018.
- Ben Mathis-Lilley, "FBI Issues Statement Denouncing House Republican Russia Memo That Trump Has Promised to Release," Slate, Jan. 31, 2018.
- Zach Beauchamp, "The real reason the Nunes memo matters," Vox, Jan. 30, 2018.
- Phil Mattingly et al., "Ryan: Nunes memo should be released, members should separate memo from Mueller," CNN, Jan. 30, 2018.
- Quinta Jurecic and Benjamin Wittes, "How Many of Devin Nunes's GOP Colleagues on the Intelligence Committee Will Stand Up for the Accuracy of His Memo? Hint: Not Many," Lawfare, Jan. 23, 2018.
- Kristen Welker and Phil Helsel "Trump wanted to fire Mueller in June but backed down when White House counsel threatened to quit," NBC News, Jan. 26, 2018.
- John Bowden, "Schiff: Nunes gave Trump 'secretly altered' version of memo," The Hill, Jan. 31, 2018.
- Ryan Sit, "Trump Caught on Hot Mic Saying he will '100 percent' Release Nunes Memo, despite Justice Department Objections," Newsweek, Jan. 31, 2018.
- David Leonhardt, "The Nunes Conspiracy," The New York Times, Jan. 30, 2018.
- Jeremy Herb and Manu Raju, "House Intel Committee votes to release Nunes memo on FBI," CNN, Jan. 30, 2018.
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