House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes (R-CA) on Thursday mocked the “cottage industry” of reporters that has grown around Congress’ investigations into alleged Russian collusion.

In an interview on Fox News’ “Ingraham Angle,” he said there were about 15 cameras and 30 reporters waiting for members of the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday as they convened their first business meeting of the year under a Democrat-controlled House.

“This is clearly an investigation, again, without a crime. We’ve looked for two years, and didn’t find anything, at all,” he said. “And what was amazing the other day is … there’s been a whole cottage industry of press people that are in the Capitol now, right?

“So for the first time [this year] we show up to our business meeting just to organize and there must have been 15 cameras down there, and 30 press people, and I’m thinking, ‘What in the world are people doing here?’ Well, we found out, because [committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA)] announced at the business meeting that he was reopening the Russia investigation.”

“I don’t know what people are going to do — this cottage industry of press people. They’re going to have to learn code or something — which was Obama’s [plan] — because they’re not going to have a job after this.”

Leftists immediately slammed Nunes for what they have called an “alt-right meme.” After hundreds of reporters were laid off at BuzzFeed, Vice, and other outlets, people on social media began trolling laid-off journalists with, “Learn to code.”

The taunt stemmed back to grievances from when reporters championed the idea that blue collar workers losing jobs — particularly coal miners — learn to code. Former President Obama also encouraged students learning how to code, and talked about it during a State of the Union address:

😱 Obama State of the Union 2016 😱 pic.twitter.com/oqBn2mV255 — Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) February 5, 2019

Nunes also slammed the reopening of the Russia investigation, saying it would distract from other serious threats.

“Unfortunately our committee, the Intelligence Committee, which is supposed to be looking overseas, dealing with places like Russia, China, North Korea, and doing serious work … We’re going to go back into Russia again with no new evidence,” he said.

He also questioned Schiff’s previously undisclosed meeting with Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson at a security conference in Aspen, Colorado, over the summer.

The Hill‘s John Solomon reported Thursday that there were pictures of the two meeting in July at the conference, right when the committee was investigating claims made in the infamous dossier that Simpson’s company produced with money from the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

“It sounds like the tarmac meeting between Bill Clinton and the former Attorney General,” Nunes said. “Glenn Simpson is at the center of our investigation into FISA abuse and other matters, so if the ranking member at the time was meeting privately with Glenn Simpson — who is the main figure in our investigation — he was the one that was being paid by the Democrats to collude with Russians.

“This is a Democratic operative who got paid to do this. What’s the ranking member, now Chairman, doing meeting this guy?” he asked.