Nunes On His Former Staffer: “I Hired Him To Bust Down Doors”

Late last week POLITICO reported that senior White House national security officials had become deeply concerned and raised alarms over a colleague’s suspected actions in recent months. These included ferrying national security documents to President Trump outside of proper national security protocol and effectively creating another back channel to Trump that has worked to warp American foreign policy towards Ukraine.

Ready for a fact that may not shock you?

This same suspected White House colleague just so happens to be a former senior counsel and protégé of Trump’s Number One Defender – Rep. Devin Nunes. In a yet to be released book on the Trump Administration’s efforts to discredit investigation into the President, Nunes was quoted saying he had hired the staffer to “to bust down doors.”

If you were wondering just how CLOSE the apple falls from the Nunes tree, here’s a reminder that not so long ago it was Nunes himself ferrying information to the White House.

Read more about the inappropriate Nunes’ staffer HERE or BELOW.

CA-22: Politico: Nunes Protégé Fed Ukraine Info To Trump

Natasha Bertrand // 10.23.19

A protégé of Republican Rep. Devin Nunes was among those passing negative information about Ukraine to President Donald Trump earlier this year, fueling the president’s belief that Ukraine was brimming with corruption and interfered in the 2016 election on behalf of Democrats.

Kashyap Patel, a longtime Nunes staffer who joined the White House in February, was so involved in the issue that at one point Trump thought he was in charge of Ukraine policy for the National Security Council, according to congressional testimony by Fiona Hill, the former senior director for European and Russian Affairs whose portfolio included Ukraine.

Hill’s testimony was described to POLITICO by a person with direct knowledge of her recent deposition, and who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the closed-door hearing. Hill declined to comment.

Several White House officials raised alarms internally about Trump undermining the U.S.’ official policy of support for Ukraine in exchange for political favors, with former national security adviser John Bolton instructing Hill to inform White House lawyers about backchannel efforts he compared to a “drug deal.”

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Patel’s name has been brought up in several recent depositions, according to another person with direct knowledge of the interviews, in connection with the shadow foreign policy campaign Trump allegedly directed in an effort to extract political favors from the newly elected Zelensky.

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His “unique access” to the West Wing, and the ease with which he has been able to interact directly with the president without NSC leadership’s involvement, has also struck some as unusual, the former official said.

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