Milbank: Congress has been looking more and more Russian

Consider Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and head of the House investigation into Russia.

On Friday, The Washington Post reported that Nunes participated in a White House-led effort to knock down a New York Times story asserting the Trump campaign had contacts with Russian intelligence. On Saturday, Nunes said that Flynn, who was pushed out over the Russia controversy, “is an American hero, and he was doing his job.” On Monday, Nunes, the man responsible for overseeing the House’s probe into the Russia matter, assembled reporters and declared: “The way it sounds to me is, it’s been looked into and there’s no evidence of anything.”

Nunes even offered Trump and Flynn an alibi, saying “they were so busy” that Trump couldn’t have possibly directed Flynn to call the Russian ambassador to talk about sanctions. And Nunes said a special prosecutor should be called in only if “serious crimes have been committed. … But at this point, we don’t have that.”

It was a trip through the looking glass: The very purpose of an investigation is to determine whether crimes have been committed; if you have proof, you don’t need an investigation.

And this man is supposed to lead an impartial investigation? You might as well ask the Kremlin to conduct one.

Judge and jury

You don’t need to be a partisan to know that, as former president George W. Bush said, “we all need answers” on Trump’s Russia ties. But the Republicans leading the investigation have already declared their partiality. Richard Burr, R-N.C., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, also participated in the White House campaign to debunk the report.

During the previous administration, seven congressional committees issued eight reports on the Benghazi affair — and that was before the two-year Select Committee investigation concluded. Now, we have the White House pressuring the FBI and senior intelligence officials to debunk allegations against Trump.

So where are these crack investigators now?

Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, has offered a bevy of excuses: He doesn’t need to probe the Flynn affair because “it’s taking care of itself”; he didn’t want to pry into the “private systems of a political party”; and he won’t “personally target the president.”

Nunes, serving as judge and jury, told reporters that it was “ridiculous” to suggest Flynn’s transition talks with the Russian ambassador violated the law prohibiting private citizens from conducting foreign policy. “We should be thanking him,” Nunes declared, “not going after him.”

Good idea. And after they thank Flynn, the Duma investigators should send chocolates to Putin.