{"id":1755984,"date":"2022-11-30T06:07:10","date_gmt":"2022-11-30T11:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1755984"},"modified":"2022-11-30T06:33:13","modified_gmt":"2022-11-30T11:33:13","slug":"judge-devin-nunes-defamation-lawsuit-against-nbc-can-move-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/judge-devin-nunes-defamation-lawsuit-against-nbc-can-move-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge: Devin Nunes Defamation Lawsuit Against NBC Can Move Forward"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fjudge-devin-nunes-defamation-lawsuit-against-nbc-can-move-forward%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1755984&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A lawsuit against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-nbc\">NBC<\/a> Universal can proceed because the plaintiff plausibly alleged defamation, a federal judge has ruled.<\/p>\n<p>Former Rep. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-devin-nunes\">Devin Nunes<\/a> (R-Calif.) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/nunes-sues-for-defamation-over-rachel-maddows-comments-on-package-from-russian-agent_3932904.html\">sued the company in 2021<\/a> after MSNBC host Rachel Maddow said on air that Nunes \u201caccepted a package\u201d from Andriy Derkach, a Russian national sanctioned by the U.S. government.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCongressman Nunes has refused to answer questions about what he received from Andriy Derkach. He has refused to show the contents of the package to other members of the intelligence community. He has refused to hand it over to the FBI which is what you should do if you get something from somebody who is sanctioned by the U.S. as a Russian agent,\u201d Maddow said later, questioning why Republicans had not removed Nunes as the top GOP member on the House Intelligence Committee.<\/p>\n<p>Nunes said the statements were false, in part because the package was never opened, and in part because his office turned the package over to the FBI.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel sided mostly with NBC, but did find that the network may have defamed Nunes when Maddow claimed Nunes refused to hand the package over to the FBI.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA reasonable viewer could plausibly understand the speaker to assert that Nunes \u2018refused\u2019 [to] turn over the Derkach package to the FBI. A reasonable viewer could conclude that\u00a0such conduct is significantly more serious than what was suggested in the Committee proceeding,\u201d Castel, a George W. Bush appointee, wrote in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/23321464-castel-ruling-in-nunes-case\">a 22-page ruling<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA refusal to turn over the package to the law enforcement body tasked with investigating and enforcing the intelligence laws is factually distinct from declining to publicly answer questions raised in a public legislative proceeding, and could plausibly be understood by a reasonable viewer to suggest unlawful conduct on the part of Nunes. Because the assertion involving Nunes\u2019s interactions with the FBI does not speak to the events of the Intelligence Committee meeting and \u2018suggested more serious conduct than actually suggested at the proceeding,\u2019 it does not fall within the fair report privilege,\u201d Castel added.<\/p>\n<p>Lawyers for NBC and Nunes did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<p>NBC lawyers had argued that the statement about the FBI, even if false, was not defamatory because Maddow was sourcing from a declassified intelligence report and a House Intelligence Committee hearing that made clear Nunes received a package from Derkach and refused to share it with the \u201cintelligence community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is indisputably true and privileged. Thus, even if Nunes <em>did<\/em>, in fact, turn the package over to the FBI, this alleged false statement carries no different defamatory sting than the true report that he received the package and refused to share it with other members of the \u2018intelligence community,\u2019 specifically his fellow members on the Intelligence Committee,\u201d NBC lawyers said in an earlier motion to dismiss the case.<\/p>\n<p>Steven Biss, representing Nunes, had disagreed, telling the judge that the statement about the FBI was false because NBC knew from prior reporting that the package had actually been turned over to the bureau.<\/p>\n<p>Biss also said NBC and Maddow failed to contact known sources, such as House Intelligence Committee member Rep. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.), who had said as much.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3058847\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/NBC-73233113-1200x800-1.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3058847\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy size-large wp-image-3058847\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/NBC-73233113-1200x800-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3058847\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/NBC-73233113-1200x800-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> The NBC Universal logo is seen on its headquarters building in Los Angeles, Calif., in a file photograph. (David McNew\/Getty Images)<\/figure>\n<h2>Other Statements Protected<\/h2>\n<p>The other statements offered by Maddow were protected, Castel ruled.<\/p>\n<p>While the first statement said that Nunes accepted a package from Derkach, and there is no evidence Nunes accepted the package, the statement is \u201csubstantially true\u201d because the package was at least received by his office and addressed to him, Castel said. Previous rulings shield \u201csubstantially true\u201d statements from defamation.<\/p>\n<p>As for Maddow questioning why Nunes was still the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, her statement was one of \u201cpure opinion\u201d and therefore not actionable, the judge said.<\/p>\n<p>Maddow\u2019s claim that Nunes had refused to answer questions about the package was substantially true because he declined during the congressional hearing to answer questions about the package, the judge said.<\/p>\n<p>Castel also found in favor of NBC with regard to Maddow\u2019s claim\u00a0that\u00a0Nunes refused to show the contents to the intelligence community.<\/p>\n<p>That statement was based on Nunes not making a disclosure to Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), a member of the House Intelligence Committee. NBC said in its defense that a reasonable viewer would think the intelligence community would include the committee, even though\u00a0the U.S. government\u2019s definition of the intelligence community does not include the committee.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA reasonable viewer encountering the statement would not understand the technical distinction between the government entities that formally comprise the intelligence [community] and the Intelligence Committee that is tasked with supervising those entities,\u201d Castel wrote. \u201cThe speaker also asserted that Nunes \u2018refused to show the contents of the package to <span>other<\/span> members of the intelligence community.\u2019\u00a0A reasonable viewer would understand the speaker to be asserting that Nunes himself is personally a \u2018member\u2019 of the intelligence community and that the \u2018other members\u2019 included his Congressional colleagues.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-zachary-stieber\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/WEB_ZacharyStieber-1.jpg\" alt=\"Zachary Stieber\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Zachary Stieber is a senior reporter for The Epoch Times based in Maryland. He covers U.S. and world news.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A lawsuit against NBC Universal can proceed because the plaintiff plausibly alleged defamation, a federal judge has ruled.Former Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) sued the company in 2021 after MSNBC host<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1755618,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1755984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1755984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1755984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1755984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1755618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1755984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1755984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1755984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}