Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) defended his lawsuit against criticism on Tuesday evening, telling Fox News that people in the public eye should be protected against defamation just as private people are.
“So what we’re talking about here is defamation and so if it’s with reckless disregard for the truth and with malice, doesn’t matter if you’re a public figure or not,” he told Fox News’ Martha MacCallum.
“What I would say, Martha, is let’s just switch roles here. If multiple people had said you had done a lot of really bad things and it started impacting your contract with Fox — you’re a public figure, I’m a public figure. Essentially what they’re saying is it doesn’t matter, you nor I have any recourse at all. And so I don’t think that’s right. And look, we want to get to the discovery process. There’s no question not only have I been defamed, it’s been multiple times, hundreds and thousands of times.”
Nunes defends suit: Public figures should be just as protected from defamation as private people pic.twitter.com/sEadXJxl9e
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) March 20, 2019
Nunes is suing Twitter and several individual users, claiming he’s been defamed and that Twitter has a bias against conservatives.
Waaaaa! You’re in the public spotlight, live with it.
Where does freedom of speech fit into all of this, l’il Devin? Should we outlaw truth telling as well? Shall we outlaw humor? I don’t even think our corrupted supreme court will back you on this.
Devin’s cow says moo hoo, moo hoo.
LOL, Bwaaaahahahahahahahaha…
Made fun of is not the same thing as defamed. He really ought to read Husler Magazine v. Falwelll. This case won’t survive the first motion.
At some level, I agree with Nunes. For example, if you spent years leveling false and scurrilous charges at a public figure, insinuating that he wasn’t actually born in the United States (despite his consistent assurances to the contrary), then there should be some consequences for that.
Does Nunes really want to open that door? Because that describes what Trump, many GOP politicians, Fox News and much of the right-wing media does on a daily basis.