
Republicans insist the Russia dossier is false, but the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee can't name a single false finding in the document.

Donald Trump's biggest defender in the Russia scandal could not name a single falsehood in the dossier that surfaced during the investigation.

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and a top Trump defender, was asked point-blank if he could point out anything in the dossier that was false.

He tried to dodge, referring questions to the Intelligence Committee. Asked whether he could speak about it, he said "no," and again referred questions to the Intelligence Committee.


The refusal to offer a single supposed falsehood runs counter to what Nunes and his fellow Republicans have loudly been alleging for months: that the dossier contains false information.

REPORTER: Is there anything in the dossier that you know, for a fact, is false? NUNES: I'd refer you back to the Intelligence Committee. REPORTER: You personally, can you speak to it? NUNES: No, I'd refer you to the Intelligence Committee.

Nunes and the other Republicans, amplified by Trump and their allies at outlets like Breitbart and Fox News, have desperately tried to attack the FBI investigation, special counsel Robert Mueller, and the dossier itself.

Yet much of the information in the document has already been confirmed, linking Trump's repeated connections to Russian business operatives over a period of several years. It was put together by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele.

Republicans need the information in the dossier to be untrue, or at the very least, dismissed by enough people to give Trump a pass. But when push comes to shove, Nunes has acknowledged that the disinformation campaign has a flaw: Much of the information is true. They can't avoid that.

Editor's note: This post has been updated to clarify that Nunes answered "no" in response to the question of whether he could speak to any falsehoods in the dossier.