New ethics complaint filed against Nunes after call logs released

The Democratic Coalition filed the complaint, which states that recently released call records show Nunes has a conflict of interest with the ongoing impeachment hearing he is overseeing.

Executive Summary: The House Intelligence Committee’s Trump-Ukraine Impeachment Report dated December 3, 2019 used a subpoena to obtain phone records which plainly demonstrate that ranking member Devin Nunes (R-CA) has an actual conflict of interest with an ongoing impeachment hearing he oversees. That is because Rep. Nunes is currently engaged in overseeing an investigation in which it appears he is a fact witness, and which may examine his own activities and meetings with agents and lawyers of the President who solicited foreign election assistance, as well as potentially into his own contacts with foreign government officials. Rep. Nunes was aware of the actual conflict of interest from his relationships to persons under investigation by the House Intelligence Committee for the purposes of the impeachment inquiry upon which it issued a report, but failed to either disclose his conflict of interest with the investigation or that he has firsthand knowledge of the persons of interest to the Committee. This is a complaint against Rep. Nunes for abuse of his official office in violation of House Rule XXIII (1) which states: “A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House shall behave at all times in a manner that shall reflect creditably on the House.”

Dates the Alleged Conduct Occurred: April 10, 2019 — April 13, 2019 and September 26, 2019 — December 3, 2019.

Concise Statement of the Facts: According to the House Ethics Manual, which gives detailed guidance and precedents to guide the implementation of House Rule XXIII, “a review of these cases indicates that the Committee has historically viewed clause 1 as encompassing violations of law and abuses of one‘s official position.”Rep. Nunes used his official office to pursue a domestic political investigation by contacting the President’s lawyer and agents, some of whom have said publicly that they acted as intermediaries to the Ukrainian government. Then, when that President’s lawyer and agents fell under the purview of a House Intelligence Committee investigation, on which Rep. Nunes is the ranking…