The hits on Nunes keep on coming. His hometown newspaper, the Fresno Bee, editorialized this week that his conduct has been “inept and bewildering” as he “betrayed the Constitution and its separation of powers by running like an errand boy to the White House.” A writer at the conservative National Review bluntly called on Nunes to step down, pointedly asking “why is Devin Nunes still chair of the House Intelligence Committee” when the country “needs leaders. It needs competence. It needs integrity.”

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A few Republicans are turning on Nunes. Rep. Charlie Dent, a moderate Pennsylvania Republican, is calling for the Senate Intelligence Committee to take the lead on the Russia investigation, characterizing the House investigation as “paralyzed.” Meanwhile, Trump’s approval in Gallup hit a new low today of 35 percent, which theoretically should induce Republicans to contemplate whether it might soon be time to distance themselves from him.

Yet Nunes has cavalierly dismissed calls that he step aside. Sen. John McCain has called for a bipartisan select committee to investigate, and Sen. Lindsay Graham has questioned Nunes’ “objectivity,” but very few other Republicans have joined them.

Still, the optics of this story are just getting worse and worse for Nunes. On Monday, Democrats on the Intelligence Committee called for Nunes to step down, following his admission that the source for the classified information he refused to share with his colleagues — and which he claimed proved that Trump campaign associates were targets of U.S. spying — came from inside the White House itself.

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What’s more, new press reports will make it increasingly difficult for Nunes, by fleshing out the ways in which Trump’s ties to Russia may extend beyond an admiration for President Vladimir Putin or an intention to recast U.S. foreign policy in the region. Media scrutiny is focusing daily on Trump’s financial ties with Russian oligarchs. As Reuters reported earlier this month, dozens of people with Russian passports or addresses have spent nearly $100 million on Trump-branded luxury properties in Florida, including businessmen with political, military, and intelligence connections. This week brought new reports of meetings between Trump’s son-in-law and advisor, Jared Kushner, and the head of a state-owned Russian bank with close ties to President Vladimir Putin. And a new USA Today piece raises additional questions about Russian investments in Trump real estate holdings.

Trump vehemently denies any business dealings with Russia. But his unprecedented refusal to disclose his tax returns has effectively blocked scrutiny of his financial dealings — a fact that is highlighted by the continued drumbeat of reporting that is revealing how little we really know, and by Democrats who are all too happy to remind everyone of Trump’s lack of transparency in the context of the Russia story.

Indeed, Democrats are increasingly focusing attention on Trump’s financial ties, seeing this as fertile ground for potential new revelations. Sen. Ron Wyden, the Oregon Democrat, has formally asked the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is running its own investigation, to examine Trump’s financial ties to Russia. As Wyden wrote to his Committee colleagues: “Efforts to understand these relationships and to separate fact from speculation have been hampered by the opacity of the finances of President Trump and his associates.”