Trump says Nunes will be hailed as a ‘great American hero’

President Trump said Wednesday that Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) would some day be “hailed as a great American hero.”

“Devin Nunes is someday going to be hailed as a great American hero,” Trump told Fox News’s Sean Hannity in an interview Wednesday night.

“They tried to destroy that man because he spoke up for good and just and all of the things that you have to speak up for but most people don’t have the courage to do it,” he continued.{mosads}

Trump: “First of all, let me say that Devin Nunes is someday going to be hailed as a great American hero.”

If I’d been drinking something, it would have come out my nose. pic.twitter.com/niK418k4NG

— Zack Ford (@ZackFord) March 27, 2019

Nunes, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, has remained a staunch Trump advocate.

Democrats have been deeply frustrated with his panel’s handling of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s election interference and possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Last year, Republicans on the committee released an intelligence memo alleging abuse of government surveillance powers by the Justice Department. Nunes chaired the committee at the time. 

Trump praised Nunes at the time for “what he has had to endure” after the congressman led efforts to release the classified memo.

“Representative Devin Nunes, a man of tremendous courage and grit, may someday be recognized as a Great American Hero for what he has exposed and what he has had to endure!” Trump tweeted in February 2018.