Nunes recorded saying Rosenstein hasn't been impeached due to 'timing'

During a private fundraiser last week for Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) said Republicans can't push for the impeachment of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein because it could keep Judge Brett Kavanaugh from being confirmed as the next Supreme Court justice.

In a recording obtained by The Rachel Maddow Show, Nunes is heard saying, "The question is the timing of it right before the election," adding: "The Senate would have to drop everything they're doing and ... start with impeachment on Rosenstein. And then take the risk of not getting Kavanaugh confirmed. So it's not a matter that any of us like Rosenstein."

Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, further hinted that House Republicans are the only ones protecting President Trump from possible legal trouble. "If [Attorney General Jeff] Sessions won't un-recuse and [Special Counsel Robert] Mueller won't clear the president, we're the only ones. Which is really the danger," he said. "I mean we have to keep all these seats. We have to keep the majority. If we do not keep the majority, all of this goes away."

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The recording also features Nunes getting candid about Trump's tweets — "Sometimes you love the president's tweets, sometimes we cringe on the president's tweets" — and declaring that when someone steals and releases emails it's "criminal."