Nunes now openly admitting he conspired with White House

[CincyDem]

3. "information laundering" and plausible deniability.

IMHO it's more than theater. Nunes was this week's featured player in the WH drama called "Spot the useful fool". Whatever information these guys had, they probably shouldn't have had it. Giving it to the president directly would make this a WH issue. So they give it to Nunes, he washes it through the House, and then gives it to the Trump (with great fanfare).

In answer to the classic question - what did the president know and when did he know it, we now have at least half the answer. He knew it when Nunes ran to the WH and told him. Did anyone tell him that information before Nunes arrival - probably but that's a lot tricker to prove now.

Nunes did his job - he took the bullet to put a pin in the timeline.