Editorials Agree: Former Trump Campaign Official, Current Trump Surrogate & GOP Chairman Nunes Too Tied to Trump to Lead on Russia Investigation; Must Move Aside

Editorial boards across the country agree with a growing number of bipartisan Members: former Trump campaign official, current Trump surrogate and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes' partisan antics and deep ties to President Trump make him unfit to lead an honest, impartial investigation into the personal, political and financial connections between President Trump and the Kremlin.

• New York Times Editorial Board:  "Mr. Nunes, who served on Mr. Trump's transition team, was never a suitable choice to lead a congressional investigation into the role the Russian government played in last year's election.  He is clearly more interested in having his committee examine the manner in which American intelligence agencies collected information about the Trump campaign than in determining what that information shows."

• USA Today Editorial Board:  "Congress must show it's capable of following this path of suspicion, whether it leads nowhere or to the Oval Office.  That requires putting the inquiry in the hands of people with reputations for integrity and independence, not administration apologists."

• Los Angeles Times Editorial Board:  "Nunes shouldn't be briefing the president whose election campaign his committee is expected to scrutinize.  Unless the chairman can reassure the public and his colleagues, including the panel's Democrats, that his freelancing days are over, the public may look elsewhere—the Senate Intelligence Committee or a proposed 9/11-style independent commission—for a trustworthy account."

• Washington Post Editorial Board:  "We've said before that it was doubtful that an investigation headed by Mr. Nunes into Russia's interference in the election could be adequate or credible.  The chairman's contradictory and clownish grandstanding makes that a certainty.  His committee's investigation should be halted immediately—and Mr. Nunes deserves to be subject to the same leaking probe he demanded for the previous disclosures."

• NJ.com Editorial Board: "It's difficult to know whether Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, cannot grasp the solemn duty that comes with congressional oversight or is trying to use his position to run interference for a president he had served during the White House transition."

• Masslive.com Editorial Board: "He's obviously too closely allied with the White House and cannot continue to serve as head of the House panel investigating Trump's Russian ties."

• Concord Monitor Editorial Board: "if there was any doubt about the necessity of a nonpartisan commission, it was quashed on Wednesday. That's when House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes briefed Trump on intelligence that purportedly backed the president's claims that he was wiretapped by the Obama administration. Nunes did so behind the backs of his Democratic colleagues."

• AZ Central Editorial Board: "[Nunes'] political theatrics – and Trump's eagerness to use the side show to further obfuscate the real issue – make it painfully clear why an independent investigation is needed."

• The National Review's David French: "If Nunes steps down as chairman, he can quickly transition from part of the problem to part of the solution. He can make a powerful statement that mistakes have consequences, and public officials still have the integrity to acknowledge their own shortcomings. He can clear the way for an investigation untainted by his own errors. His own power and his own position are not worth the ongoing loss in public confidence. It's time for Nunes to go.

• Star Tribune Editorial Board: "The need for an independent commission to investigate Russian interference in the U.S. election has become critical with the inexplicable actions of Rep. Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence."

• Sacramento Bee Editorial Board: "[Nunes] should step down as chairman, or be removed."

• Fresno Bee Editorial Board: "Rep. Devin Nunes had a terrible week fulfilling his duties as chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence."

• San Diego Union Tribune Editorial Board: "Nunes may have dynamited his reputation by seemingly deciding to provide cover for President Trump's wild and unproven allegation…"

• Sioux City Journal Editorial Board: "Dissension within the committee followed the unusual, if not improper decision by Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., the committee chairman (who was, by the way, a member of Trump's transition team), to give Trump information about transition-related intelligence collection on Wednesday before he talked to his fellow committee members. According to reports, Nunes apologized to the committee on Thursday. On Friday, the partisan committee split widened over Nunes' cancellation of a public committee hearing, related to the panel's investigation of Russian interference in the presidential election, planned for Tuesday. What in the name of bipartisan independence is going on here?"

• St. Louis Post-Dispatch Editorial Board: "Critics said [Nunes'] blatant political maneuver has destroyed the credibility of the committee's probe into Russian interference in the Nov. 8 election."

• The News & Observer Editorial Board: "Rather, the 43-year-old California congressman is demonstrating bad judgment that is going to hurt the credibility of an investigation. In short, he's not up to this task."

• Inquirer Editorial Board: "It's clear that Nunes, who served on Trump's transition team, is too close to the president for the public to have confidence that he can lead an impartial inquiry.  Nunes has tainted the probe and should recuse himself."

• Waco Tribune-Herald Editorial Board: "Sadly, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, a California Republican, has so thoroughly soiled his own committee's standing as an oversight body as to render it irrelevant… it appears more and more likely an independent commission or select committee is the only viable course forward."

• The Press Democrat Editorial Board: "Nunes lost more than a little credibility — for himself and his committee investigation."

• Times Union Editorial Board: "The rank partisanship House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., displayed Wednesday in going around his own panel to feed information to the White House showed how compromised Congress is. It is past time to take this investigation out of Congress' over-politicized hands and turn it over to an independent commission."

• The Virginian Pilot Editorial Board: "Only an independent commission can adequately examine allegations into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election."

• Idaho Mountain Express Editorial Board: "House Speaker Paul Ryan should remove Rep. Nunes from the committee and place an independent committee or a special independent prosecutor in charge of all investigations involving the Russians. Investigators should follow the money, no matter where it leads."

• Decatur Daily Editorial Board: "The odd stance Attorney General Jeff Sessions and most recently House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes have played in the investigation make clear that the investigation needs to be distanced from the partisanship that infects Congress and the Justice Department."