When questioned by a fellow committee member, California republican Congressman Devin Nunes refused to acknowledge receipt of a package of information from Ukrainian lawmaker Andrii Derkach designed to damage presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, CNN reports.
An associate of Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s, Derkach reportedly sent packets of information on Biden to republican members of the House Intelligence Committee in an effort to demean and discredit the Democratic hopeful.
The House Intelligence Committee was meeting today to provide to Committee republicans all materials the Democratic leadership of the Committee gave to the FBI about attempts at foreign interference in the upcoming election.
“I guess I would request an explanation from the ranking member why he is just not prepared to respond to a simple question whether he has received materials that have been called into question that seem designed to denigrate a former vice president of the United States, but, at a minimum, to share them with the rest of the committee,” New York Democrat Sean Patrick Maloney said.
Maloney continued: “Mr. Chairman, there have been public reports that the minority has received materials from Andrii Derkach, and those materials would not be classified and they would not be prohibited from disclosure. But, at a minimum, I also understand that majority staff has requested of the minority that they be shared with majority staff so that we might evaluate them independently.”
Maloney clarified that his questioned if Nunes was “prepared to disclose to the committee whether he has received materials that have been called into question in the public reports from Andrii Derkach and, if so, whether he is prepared to share them with the rest of the committee.”
Chairman Adam Schiff asked Nunes if he wanted to respond, to which Nunes tersely said, “No.”
Democrats have been pushing national intelligence and the FBI to investigate reported attempts by foreign government and operatives to interfere in US elections, including holding a joint briefing of all members of Congress on all investigations.
On the other side of the aisle, republicans are embracing tapes that are being distributed by Russian-linked Ukrainians that are supposed to show Biden working with Ukrainians; however, the tapes show Biden working within his duties as US Vice President in discussing US foreign policy.
Far-right republicans and right-wing news outlets have touted these baseless conspiracy theories coming from controversial Ukrainian figures, including Derkach. Wisconsin republican Senator Ron Johnson has tried to secure testimony from another Ukrainian in this orbit, former diplomat Andrii Telizhenko, for the Senate Homeland Security Committee.