Republican California Congressman Devin Nunes formally resigned from his office on Monday.
His letter of resignation was read on the floor of the House.
“The honorable, the speaker, House of Representatives, madam, I write to inform you that I have notified California Gov. Gavin Newsom of my resignation from the U.S. House of Representatives effective today at 11:59 p.m.” the letter read.
“It has been the honor of my life to represent the people of California’s San Joaquin Valley for the last 19 years,” Nunes added.
GOP Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) officially resigns from Congress to become CEO of former President Trump’s media company. pic.twitter.com/h45SjLxIu0
— The Recount (@therecount) January 3, 2022
It was subsequently announced that the current number of House members sits at 433. The other vacancy besides Nunes is the seat of late Democratic Congressman Alcee Hastings, who passed away in April of 2021.
Nunes previously announced in December that he would be resigning from Congress to fill a senior role at the Trump Media & Technology Group, a media enterprise launched by former President Donald Trump. The Hill reports that Nunes will become the CEO of the organization.
Nunes’s resignation also portends a massive change in the leadership of the Republican Party. The Daily Wire reported that Nunes was in line to assume the chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee in the event of a Republican takeover of the House after the 2022 midterm elections.
Nunes was one of the most prominent figures in the Russia collusion probe, most notably for his role in analyzing the credibility of the Democrat-funded Steele dossier. Even the Washington Post was forced to admit that Nunes’s 2019 memo about the dossier was significantly more accurate than the memo written by Adam Schiff and House Democrats. The Daily Wire reported at the time:
Now that Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz has finally released his much-anticipated report on alleged misconduct by the FBI during the 2016 election, two famous memos — one released by Republican Rep. Devin Nunes while he was House Intelligence Committee chairman, and Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, who has since taken over the position — have come under renewed scrutiny. The memos presented dueling versions of how the FBI began to surveil Trump campaign adviser Carter Page in an effort to investigate alleged “collusion” with Russia.
So who had it right? A fact-checker for The Washington Post has been forced to admit that Nunes got a “fair amount” right — in fact, his version of events aligned far more closely with what Horowitz found than the Democrats’ rebuttal.
“[H]ow much is the Nunes memo itself vindicated?” The Washington Post’s Aaron Blake asks in a fact-check published Friday. “A fair amound, it turns out,” writes Blake, adding in an attempt at a qualifier “at least, in Horowitz’s estimation.”
Blake then walks through the parallel passages in each memo and compares them with what Horowitz’s extensive report concludes, beginning with the most important disagreement between the two: “how accurate and complete the four [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)] applications to surveil Page were.” It turns out that Nunes’ claims aligned more closely with what took place, while Schiff’s counter featured “probably the worst line of the Democrats’ rebuttal…”Another key claim made in Nunes’ memo is that the Democrat-funded dossier by Christopher Steele was “an essential part of the Carter Page FISA application.” The Democrats countered by claiming that the FBI “made only narrow use” of the notorious, unverified and salacious Steele dossier:
While Blake describes the differences here as “nuanced,” the language in Horowitz’ report is clear enough: Nunes’ once again presents a more accurate description of events than the Democrats’.
A third key disagreement: whether the FBI was transparent about the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s role in funding the Steele dossier:
While the Democrats’ note is accurate, it fails to take into account that the ties to the DNC and Clinton were omitted in later applications despite the FBI having by then learned about the connection. Horowitz includes this omission as part of his list of 17 omissions and errors he details in his report.