Nunes Claims “Character Assassination”, Sues Fresno Bee Publisher for $150M

FRESNO, CA (KMJ) Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) has filed a $150 million lawsuit against the Fresno Bee’s publisher The McClatchy Company alleging they interfered with his investigation into possible Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential election and the campaign of democrat nominee Hillary Clinton.

. CLICK HERE TO READ THE COMPLAINT

Nunes made headlines last month when he announced a massive $250 million lawsuit against Twitter for allegedly “shadow-banning” him and other conservatives.

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Nunes claims a former Fresno Bee reporter, Mackenzie Mays, conspired with a political operative to “defame [him] and destroy his reputation,” according to the court documents, obtained by Fox News and filed in Virginia state court. Since writing the controversial article titled “A yacht, cocaine, prostitutes: Winery partly owned by Nunes sued after fundraiser event“, Mays left the Bee and now works as an education reporter for Politico.

That same day, Mays tweeted the article, mentioning Nunes in the same sentence as “cocaine and underage sex workers.”

Mackenzie Mays@MackenzieMays

A woman who worked for the winery (listed as a primary asset of Devin Nunes’) sued after she said she was stranded on a yacht with its top investors who were using cocaine and underage sex workers. The cruise was auctioned off as part of a charity event. http://www.fresnobee.com/news/business/article210912434.html …

12:08 PM – May 23, 2018

A yacht, cocaine, prostitutes: Winery partly owned by Nunes sued after fundraiser event

The defendants, “abandoned the role of journalist and chose to leverage their considerable power to spread falsehoods and to defame” Nunes for “political and financial gain,” Rep. Nunes said.

Twitter erupted with comments as soon as word of the latest lawsuit went public. New Yorker staff writer @Adamdavidson tweeted “Obviously, all reporters stand with @MackenzieMays. This is a (futile, but distracting) attack on all of our work.”

A spokesperson for McClatchy told Fox News late Monday: “We have no comment and stand behind the strong reporting of The Fresno Bee.”

“They need to retract everything they did against me, but they also need to come clean with the American people,” Nunes told Fox News’ “Hannity” Monday night. “Retract all of their fake news stories…I think people are beginning to wake up now, I’m serious — I’m coming to clean up the mess.”

Nunes has maintained that those aboard the yacht had no connection to the winery and were not investors.

A portion of the complaint reads: “This is a case about character assassination and a public company that weaponized its powerful pen and used it as a terrible sword. Throughout 2018, McClatchy and its reporter, MacKenzie Mays, acting in concert with a Virginia political operative and her handlers, schemed to defame Plaintiff and destroy his reputation. The central purpose of the scheme was to interfere with Plaintiff’s Congressional investigation of corruption by the Clinton campaign and alleged“collusion” between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential election.”

The suit, filed Monday, comes a day after the Central Valley lawmaker told Fox News he would send several criminal referrals to the Justice Department this week.