Jim Himes

Character matters. And in this administration, we see over and over again excuses being made for bad behavior.

A congressional committee acting to support the president's notion that this investigation is a hoax declassified without any review by the agencies concerned.

What is sad in this instance is that a small group of -- actually not a small group but a meaningful group of Republicans are seizing on things like Struck's text back and forth.

Like the Nunes memo, that's a complete misrepresentation of the facts because FBI has been keeping our eye on Carter Page long before Christopher Steele was in the picture.

The notion that the judge was not told the context in which this information was developed is incorrect.

Anybody who knows anything about FISA warrants applications know that they are very, very rigorously vetted. They are based on multiple sources.

I will tell you that that part of the Nunes memo is just flat out wrong. It is not true. That is not what Andrew McCabe said.

The notion that they hoodwinked the judge which, of course, is the core here is -- is just not supportable by the evidence.

This is not oversight, Anderson. This is a political hit job.

I would side with the speaker on that. I've read the memo, I studied it very closely, it makes absolutely no mention of Bob Mueller or of the Russia investigation.

Well, Anderson, it's painful for me to watch an otherwise honorable man like Chairman Goodlatte trade his historical legacy as he retires in order to cheer-lead this second rate hit job, which the American public is about to see is…

There is zero proof or evidence that there is political bias in the FBI.

This is part of a much larger effort in which the White House says -- either explicitly complicit or certainly the President has made his desires known.

This is a memo that is based on highly classified information. The public's not in a position anymore than the committee was, Anderson.

The fact that they're not making it available to the FBI should tell you something.

Well, it's interesting you say that because that should tell you something. You know, if you make an accusation against somebody and then you say, you can't even see the accusation, that should tell you something.

I think it's important for the FBI, whose reputation is being damaged, who is being dragged -- the FBI, these are people who serve us, who keep us safe, whose lives are on the line. They are being used as a political tool by Devin Nunes…

I would say that it is partisanship at its worse. That many people years from now will look back on the damage that they did to the FBI and to the DOJ based on no evidence.

This is the latest installment in Chairman Nunes' sort of one-man operation to try to damage, throw mud on the FBI and the DOJ, all in service of calling into question. Bob Mueller's investigation and of course trying to provide some, any…

I will tell you it's bipartisan. I don't want to get into the specifics of exactly who said what, but no, there was a great deal of consternation, very much on both sides of the aisle.

The president has been adamant that these investigations should be wrapped up as soon as possible.

There is no squaring that.

Past presidents have waived executive privilege whenever there was the possibility of criminal wrongdoing.

This raises some very serious questions about whether we will get straight answers from anybody who is or was associated with the administration or is or was associated with the transition.

There are an awful lot of questions we weren't able to answer based on this very novel theory of executive privilege.