Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) — who is fresh off losing a lawsuit he filed against CNN — is now suing the parent company of MSNBC, NBCUniversal Media, for defamation because MSNBC host Rachel Maddow dared to reveal his many connections to Russia and Russian operatives who tried to influence the 2016 presidential election.
According to Bloomberg:
“California Republican Congressman Devin Nunes sued NBCUniversal Media alleging that MSNBC’s liberal talk show host Rachel Maddow defamed him with on-air suggestions he’d conspired with a Russian agent to rig the 2016 presidential election for Donald Trump.
“Nunes, who is the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, says Maddow has repeatedly targeted him with defamatory statements that accuse him of obstruction of justice and treason. Nunes said Maddow has also called for him to lose his committee post and be stripped of his security clearances.”
What exactly did Maddow say that Nunes is claiming was defamatory? Well, she let the world know about his many ties to Russia and Russian nationals who played a part in running a smear campaign against Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election to benefit Donald Trump, who was favored by the Kremlin.
Here’s what Maddow reported on March 8, 2021:
“Last summer, the Senate Intelligence Committee in the house learned that same guy, Derkach, had mailed a stack of unknown materials to Devin Nunes, who is the top Republican on the Intelligence Committee to this day. Andrei Derkach singled out by name by the Director of National Intelligence as someone under Vladimir Putin‘s direct purview who helped run this organization targeting our election last year. Congressman Nunes accepted a package from him. What was in it? Congressman Nunes has refused to answer questions about what he has received from Andrei Derkach.”
The problem for Nunes is that every single word of what Maddow said is true and easily fact-checked against declassified congressional and intelligence reports on the 2016 election.
So why is Nunes suing? He claims that Maddow and MSNBC never contacted him for comment and therefore he wasn’t allowed to present his side of the story. However, given the fact that Nunes constantly lies, his accusation is almost certainly false.
Also, a journalist as precise and seasoned as Maddow would never air a story without reaching out for comment from Nunes or an official representative who could speak on behalf of the congressman.
The highly litigious California Republican will lose the suit against NBCUniversal, the same way he’s lost all of the other defamation suits he’s filed against media companies — including Twitter — which dared to allow accounts that were critical of Nunes to remain on their platform.
Devin Nunes is a Russian asset. All the lawsuits in the world won’t change that fact.
