Devin Nunes is battling against fake news and smear campaigns.
He has been making headlines lately, first suing Twitter and some of its users for defamation, then announcing that he will send 8 referrals of FISA abuse to the DOJ.
Now, he is filing a $150 million lawsuit against The McClatchy Company for alleged derailment of his investigation into collusion between the Hillary Clinton campaign and Russia.
Check out the news that hit Twitter:
Nunes claims that Mackenzie Mays, reporter for The McClatchy Company, and Liz Mairs, who was one of the users he sued back in March, used media in attempts to destroy his reputation during his investigation into election interference.
Here's what Fox News had to say about the details:
House Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes filed a $150 million lawsuit in Virginia state court against The McClatchy Company and others on Monday, alleging that one of the news agency's reporters conspired with a political operative to derail Nunes' oversight work into the Hillary Clinton campaign and Russian election interference.
The filing, obtained by Fox News, came a day after Nunes, R-Calif., revealed he would send eight criminal referrals to the Justice Department this week concerning purported surveillance abuses by federal authorities during the Russia probe, false statements to Congress and other matters.
In March, Nunes filed a similar $250 million lawsuit alleging defamation against Twitter and one of its users, Republican consultant Liz Mair. In Monday's complaint, Nunes again named Mair as a co-defendant, charging this time that she conspired with McClatchy reporter MacKenzie Mays to spread a variety of untruthful and misleading smears -- including that Nunes "was involved with cocaine and underage prostitutes" -- online and in print.
Reached for comment late Monday, Mair directed Fox News to a USA Today op-ed she penned earlier this week concerning Nunes' previous lawsuit entitled, "Free speech means I don't have to be nice to Devin Nunes on Twitter. So why's he suing me?"
A spokesperson for McClatchy told Fox News late Monday: "We have no comment and stand behind the strong reporting of The Fresno Bee," the McClatchy-owned publication cited throughout Nunes' lawsuit.
In a March story, the McClatchy DC Bureau reported that Nunes' previous lawsuit against Twitter and some of its users had only "amplified" the visibility of his critics and the Internet trolls -- including one named "Devin Nunes' Cow." Fox News is told Mair has not yet received service of process, including an official copy of Nunes' complaint, in either litigation.
Nunes' new complaint acknowledged the sensitivity of filing a defamation and conspiracy lawsuit against journalists but went on to allege that the defendants had "abandoned the role of journalist, and chose to leverage their considerable power to spread falsehoods and to defame" Nunes for "political and financial gain."
"I'm coming to clean up the mess."
— California GOP Rep. Devin Nunes"They need to retract everything they did against me, but they also need to come clean with the American people," Nunes told Fox News' "Hannity" Monday night. "Retract all of their fake news stories. This is part of the broader clean-up. Remember, a few weeks ago, I filed against Twitter -- they're censoring conservatives. McClatchy is one of the worst offenders of this. But we're coming after the rest of them. I think people are beginning to wake up now, I'm serious -- I'm coming to clean up the mess."
The complaint filed on Monday specifically cited a May 23, 2018 article published by the Fresno Bee and written by Mays, entitled, "A yacht, cocaine, prostitutes: Winery partly owned by Nunes sued after fundraiser event."
The article described a lawsuit's allegations of a 2015 party aboard the yacht involving "25 of the Napa Valley-based [Alpha Omega Winery]'s top investors, all men — [who] were openly using what appeared to be cocaine and 'drawing straws' for which sex worker to hire."
The Sacramento Bee also commented on Nunes' war against fake news:
In his latest legal onslaught against perceived critics of his policies, U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Tulare, filed a $150 million defamation suit Monday in a Virginia circuit court against the McClatchy Co. and a Virginia communications consultant described as a “digital terrorist for hire.”
The lawsuit filed in Albemarle County was obtained by The Sacramento Bee on Tuesday, and Nunes confirmed the lawsuit in a Monday night appearance on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show.
Nunes declared that McClatchy reporters need “to come clean with the American people” and retract their “fake news” reports. He said he wants such stories – including one published last year concerning his investment in the Alpha Omega Winery – scrubbed from the internet, and he promised more legal challenges.
“If you’re out there and you lied and you defamed, we are going to come after you,” he told Hannity.
The lawsuit, which follows a previous $250 million lawsuit he filed against Twitter and a parody account known as Devin Nunes’ Cow, targets McClatchy for reporting by The Fresno Bee in a “scheme to defame Plaintiff and destroy his reputation.”
McClatchy issued a statement Tuesday rejecting claims Nunes made “based on a story published by his hometown news source, The Fresno Bee.”
“The lawsuit represents a baseless attack on local journalism and a free press,” the statement read. “At a time when local journalism is facing more pressing and urgent challenges, the lawsuit is an unproductive distraction and a misuse of the judicial system.
As we well know from mainstream media's constant defamation of our President Trump, Nunes isn't the only one who has been subjected to being smeared through the gutter. It will be interesting to see how his lawsuits play out and if they have any effect on media at large in our nation.
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