Nunes didn't sound terribly threatening as he delivered the remark; he sounded like a politician trying to minimize negative headlines about his own party by drawing a comparison. But the comparison was deeply flawed.

AD

AD

Let's just establish that talking to Russia's ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak, or anyone else at the Russian Embassy is not inherently problematic. If it were, why would the embassy even exist?

Particular circumstances made conversations between Kislyak and members of Trump's team worthy of scrutiny.

First, The Washington Post reported last month that Michael Flynn, Trump's national security adviser at the time, had discussed lifting U.S. sanctions on Russia with Kislyak. Two things made such a discussion troubling. One: Flynn spoke with Kislyak before Trump was sworn in, undermining an Obama administration that was still in power. Two: Flynn falsely told Vice President Pence that he and Kislyak had not talked about sanctions, and Pence repeated the claim publicly.

AD

Flynn resigned over the episode.

AD

On Wednesday night, The Post reported that Attorney General Jeff Sessions failed to disclose in confirmation proceedings that he met twice with Kislyak during the presidential campaign. Sessions was a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee at the time; sitting down with Kislyak was not inappropriate, on its face. But Sessions was also an adviser to the Trump campaign, and he said under oath in January that he “did not have communications with the Russians.”