Dark-Money Group Targets Devin Nunes for Attacking “Conservative Hero” Jeff Sessions

“Sounds like a scheme Nancy Pelosi cooked up over in San Francisco”

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.)J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.

A new radio ad is attacking Trump loyalist Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) for feuding with another Trump loyalist, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, whom the ad describes as “a conservative hero. An icon. A legend.”

Earlier this month, Nunes, the chair of the House intelligence committee, threatened to hold Sessions in contempt of Congress because the Justice Department has declined to hand over classified material related to the Russia investigation. “Sounds like a scheme Nancy Pelosi cooked up over in San Francisco, don’t you think?” says the ad’s narrator. “Tell Nunes to stop playing games and get back to work.”

Swamp Accountability Project, a recently launched dark money outfit, is running the ads on talk radio stations in Nunes’ Central California district, according to the politics blog Flash Report. Republican consultant Liz Mair, a strategist for the Swamp Accountability Project, writes:

The bottom line is, Nunes is attacking one of the country’s most principled conservatives and attempting to undermine a probe that has been ruthlessly effective in going after Beltway swamp creatures like Crooked Hillary’s friend and ally Tony Podesta…

In the House, Rep. Nunes’ chamber, the Farm Bill is moving. That’s a considerably more important issue for his district than holding a stalwart, rock-ribbed conservative icon like Sessions in Contempt of Congress.

And that is why we’re running this ad: To highlight to Nunes’ constituents his misplaced priorities. Hopefully, he’ll refocus in the coming weeks.

Andrew Janz, Nunes’ main Democratic challenger, took note of the ad, saying, “The floodgates are opening on my opponent’s poor record of serving our community and our country. Nunes wants to claim his recent controversies have been a liberal hit job, but here he is taking fire from his own side.”

PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

payment methods

PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate