MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow teased the media Wednesday evening with a promise of a secret recording from a “closed-door GOP fundraiser” that would reveal Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) revealing a “surprise plan for SCOTUS nominee, Mueller investigation.”

News: Exclusive audio from closed-door GOP fundraiser reveals surprise plan for SCOTUS nominee, Mueller investigation. 9pm ET, MSNBC. — Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) August 9, 2018

That surprise plan turned out to be: winning the November midterm elections.

Nunes was “caught” on tape stating the obvious: that Republicans needed to retain their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives to protect President Donald Trump from impeachment.

He also said that impeaching Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein — which he favors, in theory — would delay the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court.

As NBC News reported:

Asked about the the impeachment plans, Nunes told a questioner that “it’s a bit complicated” because “we only have so many months left.” “So if we actually vote to impeach, OK, what that does is that triggers the Senate then has to take it up,” he said on the recording. “Well, and you have to decide what you want right now because the Senate only has so much time.” He continued: “Do you want them to drop everything and not confirm the Supreme Court justice, the new Supreme Court justice?”

The Los Angeles Times reported:

Republicans need to keep control of the House to protect President Trump from the Russia investigation, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes said at a recent fundraiser, according to an audio recording released Wednesday.

“If Sessions won’t unrecuse and Mueller won’t clear the president, we’re the only ones. Which is really the danger,” Nunes said, referring to Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions and Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel heading the investigation into Russian efforts to sway the 2016 election and possible coordination with the Trump campaign.

“I mean, we have to keep all these seats. We have to keep the majority. If we do not keep the majority, all of this goes away,” Nunes said.

The “exclusive” recalled Maddow’s infamous March 2017 dud, when she announced that she had found Trump’s tax returns, then spent the first 20 minutes of her show talking before revealing a ax return showing Trump had paid a large amount of federal taxes.

Viewers were not impressed:

Everything he said on those tapes he’s said on @FoxNews There’s nothing in those tapes that’s anything different from what we’ve already heard him say! Another DUD by @maddow — Lisa (@Lisa3628) August 9, 2018

Al Capone’s vault. I’m a Maddow fan but this was a dud. — AbbottAnne (@Abbott_Anne_) August 9, 2018

Wow?? Another dud sold as a bombshell. — AndrewStateCollegePA (@andrew16875) August 9, 2018

Nunes, who chairs the House intelligence committee, has been targeted by Democrats as he has expanded the inquiry into Russian meddling in the 2016 election to include the Obama administration’s surveillance of the Trump campaign.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.