Only that’s not what Trump wants. What Nunes will actually investigate is how Hillary Clinton conspired to give Russia all our uranium in exchange for Bill Clinton getting a big speech payday. That none of that happened won’t slow them down at all.

Before the election, the New York Times got a huge scoop on Clinton and the Russia uranium deal—in the form of pages from the book Clinton Cash by Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer. Despite the source, the dated material, and the obvious distortions, the Times ran these pieces as if they were both gospel and breaking news. But even that Breitbart-generated level of conspiracy wasn’t enough for Trump, as he’s frequently tweeted a version of the tale in which Hillary personally handed over uranium to Russia for a sweet shot of cash.

The truth seems to be that the Clinton Foundation did get a donation from owners of Uranium One before those owners sold all interest in the company and the company was bought out by another firm that kept their name. It was this new firm that then sold a controlling interest to a Russia firm—an action that took approval from dozens of offices in both Canada, the State of Utah, and the United States. Included in that approval was the intra-agency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, along with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Put it all together, and Hillary Clinton was one of more than twenty people in the United States alone who signed off on the sale of what was already a foreign-controlled company part of which had once belonged to someone who gave a donation to her namesake charity. And even that may be going too far, as Clinton says she never took part in the CFIUS review herself, but handed it off to an assistant. Saying that Hillary took a bribe from Russia in this case is roughly equivalent to the police coming after someone because they once accepted a ride in a car, and then the person who gave them that ride sold the car to someone who sold the car to someone who turned out to be a criminal. Maybe. To call the connection “weak” is overstating it.

But still, it’s out there in Trumpland. And when Trump says jump, Devin Nunes doesn’t even ask how high. He just starts jumping.

"We're not going to jump to any conclusions at this time," the California Republican continued. "But one of the things that you know that we're concerned about is whether or not there was an FBI investigation. Was there a DOJ investigation? And if so, why was Congress not informed of this matter? So that will be the start of the probe. It will be two different committees looking into this. And we will keep you posted."

According to Nunes, Congress didn’t investigate the deal at the time, even though the information on the transaction was not only public, but widely publicized. Probably because they didn’t have the keen insight of Donald Trump at the time to tell Congress how to do their job.

Oh, and should this seem like a tit-for-tat action, rest assured …

x Steve King says this dig into 2010 Uranium deal "is totally separate from the election issue...has nothing to do with the Russian election" — Jenna McLaughlin (@JennaMC_Laugh) October 24, 2017

The Russian election. What a perfect way to say it.