A judge dropped California Rep. Devin Nunes’s defamation lawsuit against CNN.
U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain rejected the lawsuit on Friday, ruling that the California Republican failed to request a retraction in a timely or adequate fashion as needed under state law.
The judge ruled that Nunes did not comply with the retraction requirements under California law, restricting his ability to pursue monetary compensation. The lawmaker, however, had argued that the laws of New York, Virginia, or the District of Columbia should be used to rule in the case because that’s the jurisdiction in which the supposed defamation took place. The lawsuit was originally filed in Virginia.
“Nunes makes two arguments against the application of California law, and in support of the application of either New York or Virginia law. In his supplemental briefing, Plaintiff argues that New York law should apply because CNN has a substantial presence there and Ward and Cuomo, who are generally located in New York, were present there when the statements were made,” the judge wrote, noting that CNN argued, “Nunes was primarily injured in California because it is the state of his domicile.”
NUNES SUES CNN OVER ‘DEMONSTRABLY FALSE’ UKRAINE REPORT
Nunes sued CNN and sought $435 million in damages, alleging that the outlet published an article defaming him when it knew the details were false.
The suit centers on a November 2019 article from Vicky Ward, who reported that Joseph Bondy, a lawyer for Lev Parnas, an indicted former associate of Rudy Giuliani, had stated that his client was willing to testify to Congress that Nunes traveled to Vienna to meet with former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Victor Shokin. Parnas was supposedly willing to testify that Nunes’s meetings there were intended on “digging up dirt” on then-presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
The congressman had denied the allegation at the time and filed the lawsuit in 2019.
“[Nunes] was not in Vienna in December 2018,” read the lawsuit. “Further, he has never met Shokin; never spoken to Shokin; and never communicated with Shokin.”
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Nunes admitted at the time that he did travel during the time in question, but to Libya and Malta.
“At no time during his visits to Libya or Malta did [Nunes] or his staff ever meet any Ukrainians or have any discussions with anyone about the Bidens,” the lawsuit added.
Neither the congressman’s office nor CNN responded to requests for comment.
