Nunes Strikes Again: Congressman Files Suit Against McClatchy For $150 Million

on February 1, 2018 in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), chairman of House Intelligence Committee, listens to President Donald Trump's remarks during a lunch at the 2018 House & Senate Republican Member Conference on February 1, 2018. (Photo by Ale... Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), chairman of House Intelligence Committee, listens to President Donald Trump's remarks during a lunch at the 2018 House & Senate Republican Member Conference on February 1, 2018. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) took another jab at a Republican communication strategist, as well as The McClatchy Company that publishes a paper in his home state, on Monday evening, in a new $150 million lawsuit.

Nunes alleges that communication strategist Liz Mair conspired with the Fresno Bee to attempt to derail the lawmaker’s efforts as then-chairman of the House Intelligence Committee to investigate the Hillary Clinton campaign and Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to the suit, which was first obtained by Fox News.

It’s the second suit Nunes has filed in as many months that lists Mair as a co-defendant. In March he sued Mair, alongside Twitter and two absurd troll accounts — “Devin Nunes’ Cow” and “Devin Nunes’ Mom” — for $250 million for defamation. He alleged in his first suit, which is chock full of embarrassing memes, that Twitter allowed Mair and the two troll accounts to function and harass him. That suit was also first obtained by Fox News.

The suit filed in Virginia on Monday centers on a May 23, 2018 story written by journalist MacKenzie Mays with the headline, “A yacht, cocaine and prostitutes: Winery partly owned by Nunes sued after fundraiser event.” The story outlines the premise of a 2015 lawsuit against the top investors in a Napa Valley winery, which is partly owned by Nunes. That 2015 suit reportedly alleges that at a charity event the investors used cocaine and hired a sex worker, but Nunes was not there or involved.

In his new suit, Nunes picks apart the article, alleging there were strategic choices made in the writing and sharing of the story on social media that were meant to target him. Nunes also alleges that Mays has used Mair as a source in her other stories and didn’t disclose the nature of her job.

“Mays concealed the fact that Mair is an opposition research operative who admittedly smears targets, such as Nunes, for pay from as-yet anonymous clients,” the complaint said. “This was a crucial omission, since it would have revealed Mair’s motives and cast grave doubt on her credibility and veracity and on the credibility and veracity of her handlers.”

McClatchy did not immediately return TPM’s request for comment.

Mair told TPM she couldn’t comment beyond “what you’ve seen out of my office.” In a series of tweets on Monday and Tuesday, Mair, who has changed her Twitter name to “BeingSuedByDevinNunes,” asked followers to donate to her legal defense fund and said the suits were just efforts to “stifle your, my and every Americans’ free speech.” An auto reply email pointed reporters to her USA op-ed, in which she addressed the first suit.

Read the full lawsuit below:

Complaint – 4.8.19 Mcclatchy 2 by on Scribd

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. Yup, his quest to end frivolous lawsuits has taken some odd turns.

  2. Poor Devin and his thin skin. Isn’t it amazing how Nunes and his ilk are all about “free speech” when they’re the ones doing the criticizing. When they are the targets they suddenly hate it. Strange that…

  3. Strong anti-SLAPP provisions are a good start, but they don’t seem to be the complete answer. Here, we have a flagrantly silly, laugh-out-of-court suit specifically intended to weaponize the legal system to restrict our most basic fundamental freedoms exercised for politics, presumably bankrolled by some rich fuck who doesn’t care about mere fees. It’s hard to think of something more at odds with the spirit of our freedoms as the framers conceived them.

    I’m not sure what the answer is, but we need to think about an answer. Sending Devin (DEVIN!) to scoop cow patties one day for every million dollars of silly nuisance lawsuit might be a good solution for this specific case, but it’s not very generalizable.

  4. Wonder who is footing the legal bills for Nunes? There is something not quite right about this whole affair. One would hope he would lose and then have to pay ALL of the legal bills for the defendents. Now that would be justice!

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

34 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for mattinpa Avatar for steviedee111 Avatar for doctorbiobrain Avatar for chelsea530 Avatar for 2strange Avatar for tobie Avatar for grandpajoe Avatar for khaaannn Avatar for schmed Avatar for triletter Avatar for darrtown Avatar for raincntry Avatar for maricaibo Avatar for av8r Avatar for doug834 Avatar for noonm Avatar for castor_troy Avatar for brian512 Avatar for katscherger Avatar for erik_t Avatar for heretofore Avatar for paul_lukasiak Avatar for dicktater

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: