Devin Nunes Files $9.9 MILLION Lawsuit Against Steele Dossier Firm Fusion GPS!

Fox News had more details:

Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., filed a $9.9 million federal conspiracy lawsuit on Wednesday alleging that the opposition research firm behind the anti-Trump Steele dossier coordinated with another group to file several fraudulent and harassing ethics complaints intended to derail his investigation.

The complaint in the Eastern District of Virginia, which named Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson and the nonprofit Campaign for Accountability (CfA), said the "smear" tactics kicked into action shortly after Simpson "lied" in his closed-door testimony before the House Intelligence Committee in November 2017, as well as before the Senate Judiciary Committee in August 2017.

Fusion GPS and CfA's "racketeering activities," Nunes alleged, were "part of a joint and systematic effort to intimidate, harass, threaten, influence, interfere with, impede, and ultimately to derail" Republican investigators.

In a statement to Fox News on Thursday, CfA Executive Director Daniel Stevens called Nunes' allegations a "ridiculous" attempt to "muddy the waters by attacking an independent watchdog group."

"CfA's ethics complaints detail how Devin Nunes apparently leaked confidential information and failed to disclose his personal finances as required by law.," Stevens said. "Since Nunes can't explain away these ethical lapses, he has resorted to filing poorly drafted lawsuits to deflect attention."

The lawsuit was the latest in a string of filings by Nunes this year, including a $250 million defamation complaint that named Twitter as a defendant and a $150 million complaint against the news organization McClatchy. Courts have not yet ruled on the merits of those complaints.

"I was often smeared," Nunes told Fox News' "Hannity" on Wednesday night. "And now, what we know is, there's a link between those who were doing the smearing and Fusion GPS."

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Nunes added: "When we were investigating Fusion GPS, they were actively involved in working to smear me to obstruct justice, to derail our investigation -- and so, I'm gonna hold these guys accountable, and this is just one of many steps we're gonna continue to take."

In his latest lawsuit, Nunes noted that in October 2017, he authorized subpoenas to compel Simpson and his associates to testify before congressional investigators and provide related documents concerning Fusion GPS' "nefarious activities," including its role in creating the Steele dossier.

"The bank records produced by Fusion GPS revealed that the Clinton campaign, the DNC and Perkins Coie paid for Fusion GPS’ anti-Trump research," Nunes' complaint stated.

Nunes, then the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, was looking into the intelligence community's reliance on the unverified dossier, which the FBI had cited in a surveillance warrant to monitor former Trump aide Carter Page.

Simpson lied in his congressional testimony the next month, Nunes alleged, by claiming he did not meet with DOJ official Bruce Ohr until after the 2016 election. Ohr, however, testified that he met with Simpson in August 2016.

Additionally, Nunes said Simpson lied in August 2017 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Fox News reported last year that when asked by the panel whether that work continued after the 2016 election, Simpson responded: “I had no client after the election.”

Then-Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, however, challenged that answer in a letter to committee colleague Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del. “As we now know, that was extremely misleading, if not an outright lie,” he wrote.

Worried there would be criminal referrals arising from the apparent falsehoods, Nunes claimed, Fusion GPS sprang into action.

"Fearing a criminal referral for his false statements to the FBI and DOJ, for lying to Congress and the Senate, and for obstructing the House Intelligence Committee in its Russia investigation, the Defendants directly and aggressively retaliated against Plaintiff, employing the same or similar means and methods as Fusion GPS and Simpson have employed multiple times in the past to smear the opposition," Nunes' filing stated.

Fox News also reports that Nunes isn't the only person fililng suit:

Following California GOP Rep. Devin Nunes' $9.9M lawsuit against Fusion GPS over alleged "smear" tactics, businessman and Magnitsky Act advocate Bill Browder told Fox News that the opposition research firm behind the anti-Trump Steele dossier also targeted him with an organized misinformation campaign.

Browder is the CEO and co-founder of Hermitage Capital, which was once the largest foreign portfolio investor in Russia. He told Fox News that Fusion GPS and founder Glenn Simpson were working with Russians who wanted the Magnitsky Act repealed -- and that they "played dirty."

"It appears on a whole range of stories they are in the lying and smear campaigning business," Browder said. "My experience does not look like an isolated incident. These guys play dirty, and I have seen it firsthand.”

He continued: "I had an experience with Glenn Simpson and Fusion GPS in spring 2016 where they were paid agents for individuals connected to the Russian government. They lied to journalists and other thought leaders in Washington about me and the Magnitsky case to have the act repealed.”

Bill Browder was the man who pushed the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, which was passed into U.S. law in 2012. It sanctions and freezes the assets of those the U.S. Congress deems to be human rights abusers.

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Browder has worked for years to advocate on behalf of former business associate Sergei Magnitsky, who was imprisoned and died in Russian police custody nearly a decade ago, allegedly beaten to death. Browder had hired Magnitsky to uncover details of a massive $230 million financial fraud in Russia involving corrupt Russian government officials.

In the wake of his colleague's death, Browder advocated for the Magnitsky Act, which was first passed in the U.S. in 2012. The Magnitsky Act brought sanctions against Russian oligarchs suspected of money laundering, and allows the U.S. to impose sanctions on human-rights abusers globally. Last July, Russian President Vladimir Putin mentioned Browder by name during a summit with President Trump in Helsinki.

Browder told Fox News that his work attracted Fusion GPS' attention, and that he filed a complaint with the Justice Department in 2016 alleging that Simpson had committed a "very clear, discrete violation" of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).