Democratic House Oversight Committee member Ro Khanna told MSNBC on Tuesday that former House Intel chair, California Republican Devin Nunes, was trying to “kill” the Michael Cohen hearings with his call to make all three sessions open to the public.
“A lot of Americans will say, ‘hey, that’s great. That’s a push for transparency,” noted host Ali Velshi of Nunes’ statement as co-host Stephanie Ruhle rolled her eyes and laughed “not really”, and asked Khanna what the problem was.
“The hearing tomorrow with the oversight committee is going to be open,” Khanna replied. “The intelligence one can’t be open. We can’t have Michael Cohen talking about sensitive information about the United States’ relationship with Russia or what Mueller is doing. I don’t think Americans would want that kind of information to be public.”
But Ruhle wasn’t satisfied. “Why would Devin Nunes of all people be saying, ‘no, let’s not have this be closed, let’s open it up,'” she asked. Khanna smiled.
“Because Devin Nunes knows that would be a way to kill the hearings,” he said. “He’s not acting in good faith.”
“Michael Cohen is someone who’s afraid. He’s been intimidated by the president,” Khanna continued. “We should understand the enormous pressure he’s under. He’s got the president of the United States calling his father-in-law criminal, threatening his family.”
Khanna rebutted Ruhle’s suggestion that he might feel any sympathy for the president’s former fixer
“I feel that he shouldn’t be intimidated. I think what we need to do at this committee is just let him tell the truth,” he said. “I think that’s in his interest, and that would be good for the healing of this country.”