Devin Nunes, Trump Media CEO, Loses Defamation Suit Against Rachel Maddow.
Devin Nunes, the former GOP lawmaker and current chief executive of Donald Trump’s media company, has lost a defamation lawsuit against NBCUniversal regarding comments made by MSNBC host Rachel Maddow about his involvement with a pro-Russian operative. The lawsuit, which focused on remarks Maddow made during a March 2021 broadcast, was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel. The judge stated that Maddow did not exhibit "constitutionally-defined actual malice" towards Nunes in the segment, which discussed a package he received from Ukrainian businessman Andrii Derkach.
When Nunes was a member of Congress and the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee in 2019, Derkach, described as a Russian agent by intelligence agencies, sent a package to Nunes. Nunes claimed he promptly handed the package over to the FBI. However, in July 2020, Politico published an article suggesting that the information was not shared with the FBI, based on a source familiar with the matter. Maddow and her show's executive producer later referenced this Politico article in a segment that discussed an ODNI report and Nunes' handling of the Derkach package.
Nunes alleged in the lawsuit that Maddow and her producer were aware that he had given the package to the FBI but chose to ignore contradictory reports. The lawsuit did not name Maddow and her producer as defendants, targeting NBCUniversal instead. The judge found no evidence that Maddow's political bias influenced her reporting or that she acted with reckless disregard for the truth. Nunes, who left Congress in 2022 to lead Trump Media & Technology Group, claimed that Maddow and the network held a bias against him.
Nunes has faced multiple defamation lawsuits against media outlets and individuals, with this case being one of several dismissed. Derkach, the Ukrainian businessman, was sanctioned by the Treasury Department in 2020 for attempting to interfere in the 2020 U.S. presidential election on behalf of Trump. Subsequently, he was indicted for sanctions violations in 2022. MSNBC declined to comment on the lawsuit outcome.