1/ In April, America learned that Trump secretly conspired with House Intel Committee Chair Devin Nunes to prematurely end the Russia probe.
2/ That sordid episode—and illegal behavior—is likely now part of Special Counsel Mueller's Obstruction investigation against the president.
3/ The aim of the Trump-Nunes conspiracy was to delegitimize the FBI probe by proving the evidence that birthed it was false and/or illegal.
4/ The result of the conspiracy—besides fodder for Mueller's Obstruction probe—was Nunes "recusing" himself from the Intel Committee's work.
5/ While Nunes never REALLY recused himself—he continued (crucially) overseeing the Committee's subpoenas—Trey Gowdy assumed a leading role.
6/ Gowdy now seeks—in EVERY sense like Nunes—to delegitimize the FBI probe by proving the evidence that birthed it was false and/or illegal.
9/ The Committee hasn't interviewed more than a handful of the KEY persons of interest in the Trump-Russia affair—MANY months into its work.
10/ What KEY persons of interest the Committee HAS interviewed, it's deliberately interviewed—by prior formal agreement—in closed sessions.
11/ The result is the public never hears the testimony AND—as we saw this week—the witnesses can block Mueller from seeing their testimony.
12/ Just today, CNN reported Manafort has used his agreement with the Committee to keep his testimony from the FBI.
18/ I said it's common for investigations to overlap—intel-sharing agreements EASILY ensure government bodies can access one another's work.
27/ Democrats charged Gowdy with acting as a "second attorney" for Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner during his recent closed-door testimony.
29/ On July 11th, Gowdy told Trump's White House in the *clearest possible terms* it needed to come clean on Russia.
30/ But within 30 days of that extraordinary admonishment of the White House over its response to the Russia probe, Gowdy did an about-face.
31/ So a KEY question right now is to discover what happened with, or to, Trey Gowdy between July 12th and sometime in early to mid-August.
32/ The most significant event in the House Intel investigation during that period—BY FAR—was its interrogation of Jared Kushner on July 25
33/ Trump—almost certainly illegally—called Sen. Chuck Grassley prior to one of his sons testifying before Congress.
34/ So it's not conspiracy theory—just sound investigation—to ask if Trump spoke to Gowdy before ANOTHER of his sons testified to Congress.
35/ Specifically, we'd want to know if there is ANY evidence Trump spoke to Gowdy about the Russia investigation between July 11th and 25th.
38/ On July 25 Gowdy said on FNC, "I think the president's frustration is *not* the recusal..." before changing his statement to "I hope..."
40/ Later in the interview, Gowdy stated—as fact, not supposition—that Trump had "no confidence" in Sessions, though Trump hadn't said that.
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