Rep. Nunes: ‘Bad Actors’ Should Be Prosecuted

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) in California on Sep. 3, 2020. (Brendon Fallon/The Epoch Times)

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), whose investigation uncovered FBI misconduct in the Russia collusion probe, told The Epoch Times that “bad actors” should be prosecuted to bring back trust in judicial institutions.

“Our Republic really depends on this investigation, and the prosecution of these bad actors,” Nunes said during a Jan. 4 interview with “American Thought Leaders.” “If not, you’re going to have a continued deterioration of confidence in what is, you know, those important institutions, [such as the] Justice Department.”

U.S. Attorney John Durham was assigned to investigate the origins of the FBI’s counterintelligence operation against President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign in early 2019. Then-Attorney General William Barr appointed him special counsel on Oct. 19, 2020, before he stepped down. Barr said that Durham was “making good progress” in the investigation.

Last month, the White House announced that Durham has been granted the authority to use classified information “as he deems necessary” in his investigation.

“In order for these institutions to survive and for our democratic Republic to be robust, you have to have trust in these institutions, whether it’s a judicial proceeding or any actions that law enforcement takes or elections for that matter,” he said.

Nunes said that if those “bad actors” aren’t prosecuted, “it’s going to be the same old thing, which is that Republicans, conservatives are treated way differently than Democrats.”

So far in Durham’s probe, only one FBI official has been indicted. Kevin Clinesmith, a former lawyer for the law enforcement agency, was charged with altering an email used in the surveillance of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.

According to a criminal information document filed on Aug. 14, 2020, in a federal court in Washington, Clinesmith altered the content of an email he forwarded to an FBI special agent to say that Page was “not a source” for the CIA, even though the CIA had advised Clinesmith that the opposite was true. The special agent then relied on the adulterated email to sign off on a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant application used to spy on Page.

“And hopefully, he will bring multiple indictments and also explain for those people he can’t indict if there was a law broken,” said Nunes. “He needs to have a full-blown report. So we know exactly what happened with this sprawling fraud that occurred.”

Nunes started investigating the potential Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election when he was the House Intelligence Committee chairman.

He later discovered that the Steele dossier was funded by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. He also found that the Obama-Biden administration had issued the FISA warrants to spy on Trump’s 2016 campaign and illegitimately unmasked several innocent spying victims for political gain.

Trump on Jan. 4 awarded Nunes the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, praising him by saying that “he uncovered the greatest scandal in American history.”

“Devin’s efforts led to the firing, demotion, or resignation of over a dozen FBI and DOJ employees,” said the statement.

When asked about the future of the investigation in the event of a Biden administration, Nunes responded that “it has to be carried out and it should not be ended.”

He pointed out that many of the same people “are being nominated for positions in the Biden administration, so they will do anything and everything to continue to cover this up.”

Susan Rice, the former national security adviser who attended the 2017 Oval Office meeting discussing Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who was then the incoming national security adviser, was chosen by Biden last month as his pick to run the White House Domestic Policy Council.

“We don’t have the ability to arrest people. We have to count on the Justice Department to do it,” said Nunes.

“So all we can do is make criminal referrals and continue to expose the truth.”

Zachary Stieber and Ivan Pentchoukov contributed to this report.