House Rep. Devin Nunes Is Suing the Washington Post For $250M, Alleging Defamation

Brittany M. Hughes | March 4, 2020
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Republican California Rep. Devin Nunes is suing the Washington Post for $250 million, alleging the Jeff Bezos-owned newspaper is guilty of defamation stemming from their coverage of the latest Trump-Russia collusion conspiracy theory.

“This action arises out of a WaPo hit piece that was manufactured out of whole cloth,” Nunes' 23-page lawsuit, filed Monday, alleges.

Here's the backstory - and it's a bit convoluted. The Washington Post published a story on Feb. 20 built on a previously report from the New York Times, which claimed that Shelby Pierson, the intelligence community election threats executive under recently-replaced Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire, told Congress during a classified briefing that Russia was interfering in the 2020 campaign on behalf of President Trump – comments that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has since denied.

WaPo then claimed that Pierson’s alleged comments were relayed to Trump by Nunes, angering the president and forming the basis for his firing Maguire and replacing him with former U.S. Ambassador Richard Grenell. The administration, on the other hand, has claimed the switch had nothing to do with any briefing, but was simply done because Maguire’s mandated time limit as acting director was expiring anyway.

The paper also added that Trump was led to believe Pierson had exclusively briefed House Rep. Adam Schiff on Russia’s election meddling – a charge Nunes denies.

“Devin Nunes never told the President or anyone else that Shelby Pierson had given an exclusive briefing to Schiff. Devin Nunes, did not meet or speak with the President on February 13, 2020 — the day of the ‘classified hearing’ — or on February 14, 2020, and never conveyed to him any indication that Schiff was given an exclusive assessment of Russian actions,” Nunes’ lawsuit states.

Nunes added that WaPo's story is just the latest in a string of defamatory stories published against the administration.

"Bezos’ WaPo heavily promoted the Russian ‘collusion’ hoax between 2017 and 2019, in spite of the fact that there was no evidence that any member of the Trump campaign colluded with any ‘Russian’ to influence the 2016 Presidential Election,” the suit continues.  “This is 2020. As this case illustrates, Bezos and his printing press remain desperate to defame the President of the United States and his allies in Congress. This defamation must end.”

WaPo leadership is denying the charge, saying they’ll fight the allegations.

"The Post stands behind the reporting of Shane Harris and his colleagues,” spokesperson Kris Coratti Kelly told the Washington Examiner. “We will vigorously defend our work against the claims made in Rep. Nunes’s lawsuit.”

 

(Cover Photo: Gage Skidmore)

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