Nunes: FBI Was Lying to Congress — ‘This Is Really, Really Bad, and Somebody Needs to Pay a Price for It’

During an appearance on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” this week, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), the ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee, explained how text messages from disgraced FBI agent Peter Strzok revealed the FBI did not open an investigation because of actions of then-Trump campaign association George Papadopoulos.

Papadopoulos was used as justification for the FBI’s counterintelligence investigations relating to Trump-Russian connections, known as Crossfire Hurricane.

According to Nunes, Papadopoulos was a “phony target,” which was not revealed in testimony to Congress.

“Look, I think, overall here, these are kind of the text messages that we have all been waiting for, that we knew probably existed, that give the hard evidence that our investigation really needed several years ago,” Nunes said. “So, I have made the statement on your show and many others publicly over the last few years that we know the FBI was lying to Congress, because we knew that they did not open this investigation because of Papadopoulos, and then they opened it on July 31. That was always nonsense. There was plenty of evidence of that.”

“And, here, we have a text message that was clearly relevant to our investigation that they hid from us,” he continued. “And look, I would also say it’s now clear that Papadopoulos was so mistreated, it’s just so unbelievable. I mean, they’re actually — this — the FBI and DOJ in this country ought to be ashamed of themselves, mocking a target that they knew was a phony target. They’re making fun of Papadopoulos. This is really, really bad, and somebody needs to pay a price for it.”

Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor