Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, answers questions at the U.S. Capitol during a press conference March 7, 2017 in Washington, DC. Photo : Win McNamee ( Getty Images )

Tapes have an important history in hip-hop’s legacy. During the 1980s, mixtapes were all the rage because most radio stations weren’t playing this new genre of music and no one had time to lug around thousands of albums.


Before Soundcloud, Spotify and Tidal became a thing, these pre-internet recordings determined what everyone would be listening to during the summer. Some of them were even calculated leaks of unreleased songs. For millennials, hip-hop mixtapes were the first iPods.

It now looks like the Trump administration is trying to bring that old school flavor back as DJ Devin Nunes, MC Michael Cohen and Cut-Selector Omarosa all have released mixtapes so hot that they rival some of the earliest hits of DJ Kid Capri and DJ Clue.


First Michael Cohen dropped his tape: “Quiet Stormy: Paid in Full” with a feature by Donald Trump instructing Cohen to pay off Stormy Daniels. The FBI also seized 12 tapes from Cohen’s office, meaning he might have a playlist full of unreleased hits.

Then, according to the Daily Beast, Omarosa Manigault-Newman reportedly recorded conversations during her time as the White House Liason for Negro Relations. And not only did she reportedly tape the president, she’s been letting friends hear masters of her recordings with her Massa.

And on Wednesday evening, audio obtained exclusively by MSNBC exposed Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Cali.), arguably the president’s favorite lapdog, as the shitheel he’s shown himself to be. Speaking during a small Republican dinner fundraiser, Nunes boasted that even he’s not fond of the president’s behavior; that a Republican majority in Congress is needed to insulate Trump from being impeached and timing is the only reason the GOP hasn’t pushed to impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.


According to the audio, Nunes told the Republican donors that upcoming midterms are the real reason that Rosenstein is gainfully employed. They also restrained from making Rosenstein the new James Comey because they don’t want to take away from the Congressional effort to confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh .




“It’s a bit complicated,” he told the audience member. “We only have so many months left,” CNBC reports.

“So if we actually vote to impeach, OK, what that does is that triggers the Senate then has to take it up,” Nunes explained, adding: “So it’s not a matter that any of us like Rosenstein. It’s a matter of, it’s a matter of timing.”


“Do you want them to drop everything and not confirm the Supreme Court justice, the new Supreme Court justice?” asked Nunes.

Later, Nunes stresses the importance of keeping a Republican House majority because, in doing so, they can offer protection to Trump and prevent him from being impeached.


“If Sessions won’t un-recuse and Mueller won’t clear the president, we’re the only ones, which is really the danger,” he says on the recording, CNBC reports. “That’s why I keep, and thank you for saying it by the way, I mean we have to keep all these seats.”




Now some might consider this a textbook example of what some people, including some dudes named Merriam and Webster, call “collusion,” which they define as:

A secret agreement or cooperation especially for an illegal or deceitful purpose.


But aside from being the trusted source of definitions for over 150 years and their dictionaries being one of the most-sold books in American history, what does Merriam-Webster know?

This is about hip-hop. Cohen, Nunes and Omarosa have dropped the hottest mixtapes this summer and didn’t even need Soundcloud to do it. Collectively, Trump’s street team has brought that 1980s feeling back and I can’t wait for the next tape to drop.