- So what did they have to do?
They had to come out and say,
"Well look, Devin Nunes was actually the one
"that was meeting with all of these Ukrainians."
So, sorry CNN, it's totally false.
- [Gina] That's Devin Nunes,
the top Republican on the House Intel Committee,
and according to a Giuliani associate,
directly involved in the push
for Ukraine to investigate the Bidens.
But long before Nunes was allegedly taking trips to Europe
and milking Ukrainians for dirt on the Bidens,
he was probably milking cows on his family's dairy farm.
I'm comedian Gina Brillon,
and this is the story of Devin Nunes, a congressman
who went from suing a cow parody Twitter account
(bird tweets) to being center stage
in one former steak salesman's impeachment process.
I understand steaks.
It's my favorite food, and these are the best.
- [Gina] Devin Gerald Nunes was born in 1973
in Tulare, California.
His family is of Portuguese descent.
They emigrated from the Azores to the US,
which is possibly why Nunes
once had a lax view on immigration.
Nunes one supported moderate immigration reform
such as giving amnesty to undocumented people
living and working in the US.
But as Trump increased his resources
for Immigration and Customs Enforcement,
and instituted a family separation policy at the border,
Nunes has stood by the recipient
of "Home Alone 2" residual checks.
Before Nunes backed Trump's every move,
he was working on his family's 640-acre dairy farm
looking like this.
Nunes grew up on the California dairy farm,
seemingly milking cows and raising cattle.
But along the way, he also raised some eyebrows.
A deeply sourced Esquire report notes
that the farm secretly moved to Sibley, Iowa
more than a decade ago.
Nunes hasn't acknowledged the move,
and the piece alleges that the farm heavily relies
on cheap undocumented immigrant labor.
It's worth noting that in 2010,
Nunes campaigned for racist Iowa Congressman Steve King,
who called illegal immigration
a slow motion terrorist attack.
Nunes might want to stop campaigning
for guys that want to rid the country of the very people
his family's farm ostensibly relies on to stay afloat.
Nunes has since sued Ryan Lizza,
the author of The Esquire piece,
and the publisher for 75 million in damages.
Nunes famously love to sue people, or cows,
but we'll get into that in a second.
- Part of the reason that I'm starting with Twitter
in these lawsuits and going on to the fake news stories,
it's important to know
who was behind putting those fake news stories out.
- [Gina] Nunes graduated from a community college,
and then got his bachelor's in agriculture business
from Cal Poly, where he also earned a master's.
Nunes figured his trajectory wouldn't alter much from here.
I never pictured myself running for office.
I always wanted to be a winemaker, and make cheese,
that sort of thing.
But of course, Nunes ended up doing the thing
he couldn't fathom, running for office.
In 1998, he ran for congress,
but he was removed from the ballot
for not meeting the required age of 25.
Nunes sued, alleging he would be 25 before being sworn-in.
He made his case and was back on the ballot,
but it didn't matter, he lost the primary.
In 2000, he volunteered
on George W Bush's presidential campaign.
And after Bush won the presidency, he appointed Nunes
as the US Department of Agriculture state director
of rural development.
During this time, the Democratic-controlled legislature
did that the annoying but somehow perfectly legal thing,
redrawing district lines for maximum advantage.
But creating largely left-leaning seats across the state
resulted in Nunes' district turning bright red.
He ran for house again and won.
Thanks to Democrats, Nunes has been a rising force
in Republican politics ever since.
And thanks to millions and millions of dollars
from super PACs, he's been able to stay there.
In November of 2014,
he was appointed chairman of the Intel Committee,
where he's been what's Steve Bannon calls
Trump's second strongest ally in Congress,
who Trump himself said, "May someday be recognized
"as a great American hero."
- And a very courageous man,
he's courageous, Congressman Devin Nunes.
- [Gina] But not everyone was diggin' Nunes.
A few parody Twitter accounts mocking Nunes popped up,
one called Devin Nunes' cow,
and another called Devin Nunes' mom.
In response, Nunes,
who co-sponsored the Discouraging Frivolous Lawsuits Act,
sued Twitter and the users behind the accounts
for 250 million because a fake cow on Twitter
was being mean to him.
- This is the first of many lawsuits that are coming.
How is it possible that I can be attacked relentlessly
hundreds of times a day by fake accounts
that they claim in their terms of service
should not be there.
- [Gina] Stephen Colbert painted a picture
of what the lawsuit actually looks like.
- That's embarrassing, seeing a parody account of your mom.
(audience laughing) But even more embarrasing
is seeing how it looks when written out in a formal lawsuit,
because the suit says, and I quote,
"In her endless barrage of tweets,
Devin Nunes's Mom maliciously attacked
every aspect of Nunes' character.
(audience cheering)
- [Gina] While Nunes was suing a cow,
he was simultaneously going to bat
for a cow's worst nightmare,
former steak salesman, Donald J Trump.
During the 45th president's impeachment hearings,
Nunes was one of Trump's loudest defenders.
- Today we are witnessing the Ukraine hoax,
the direct-to-TV sequel to the Russia collusion hoax.
- [Gina] If this is a direct-to-TV sequel,
the audience is going to be expecting
even more indictments in the second installment.
And Nunes might have a bit of a different character arc
than his role in the previous film.
The Daily Beast reported, "Lev Parnas,
"an incited associate of Rudy Giuliani,
"helped arrange meetings and calls in Europe
"for rep Devin Nunes in 2018,
"Parnas' lawyer Ed McMahon said."
The meetings, which took place in Vienna,
were meant to advance Ukrainian investigations
into the Bidens.
Of course, Nunes' response was to do what he does best.
- And I have a bet for your Sean,
CNN and the Daily Beast are going to run for cover.
They're gonna fight this.
They're not gonna show up in court.
- [Gina] While Nunes is bringing parody Twitter accounts
and media companies to court,
he might want to steer his focus
to an even bigger legal battle of his own.
House travel records show Nunes went to Europe
at the time in question,
and three Congressional aides who have worked for Nunes
have matching travel receipts for the same dates.
- Bottom line, were you in Vienna with Shokin?
- [Devin] Yeah, so look Maria,
I really want to answer all of these questions,
and I promise you I absolutely will come back on the show
and answer these questions.
- [Gina] It's unclear where Nunes will go from here,
but the bull is beginning to buck,
and he can definitely feel it.
- I don't know how to describe it better.
I made a clear statement on Friday night,
demonstrably false and scandalous fake news.
- [Gina] According to FiveThirtyEight,
Nunes votes in line with Trump over 97% of the time.
So one thing's for sure,
Nunes will surely be chewing the cud for Trump
for the foreseeable future.
He'll have to just hope the former steak salesman
will pardon cow sympathizers in addition to turkeys.
- I hereby grant you a full and complete pardon.
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