Part of former Republican California Rep. Devin Nunes’s defamation lawsuit against MSNBC host Rachel Maddow can move forward despite NBCUniversal’s efforts to dismiss the suit, a federal judge ruled Monday.
Maddow claimed in March 18, 2021, that Nunes accepted a package from U.S. government-sanctioned Russian agent Andriy Derkach and “refused to hand it over” to the FBI. (RELATED: ‘Wild West’: New Emails Reveal Fauci, NIH Officials Considered Warning FBI About Potential Lab Leak)
Nunes sued NBCUniversal for defamation in August 2021 over three statements she made on “The Rachel Maddow Show.” U.S. Southern District of New York Judge P. Kevin Castel granted NBC Universal’s request to dismiss Nunes’ defamation claims about two statements made by Maddow and part of a third, but allowed the lawsuit to continue over her statement that Nunes “refused” to give the package to the FBI.
WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 28: A clip from the Rachel Maddow Show is played during the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing in Dirksen Senate Office Building on April 28, 2021 in Washington, DC. Ketanji Brown Jackson, nominee to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit, and Candace Jackson-Akiwumi, nominee to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Seventh Circuit, testified on the first panel. (Photo By Tom Williams-Pool/Getty Images)
Derkach addressed a package to Nunes in December 2019, but Nunes’s staff sent it to the FBI’s offices unopened, with the then-congressman sending then-Attorney General William Barr a letter about the package the same day, according to the lawsuit.
Nunes has denied that he accepted a package from Derkech.
Nunes left Congress in 2021 and currently serves as Trump Media and Technology Group’s CEO.
MSNBC and Nunes’ attorney did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.
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