Alan Dershowitz: Devin Nunes has ‘no case at all’ in Twitter lawsuit

Harvard Law School professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz argued Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., has “no case at all” in his lawsuit against Twitter and some Twitter users who mocked him.

“No, he has no case at all, and it is wrong from a political and ideological point of view,” Dershowitz said during an interview with Fox News on Wednesday. “If you don’t like what Twitter is doing, create an alternate company. If you don’t like what Facebook, you don’t like what any of the others are doing, the American way is competition.”

“If you’re a public figure in order to be defamed you have to prove reckless disregard for the truth,” Dershowitz added. “It will be very hard to do.”

On Monday, Nunes filed a lawsuit in a Virginia state court seeking $250 million in compensatory damages and $350,000 in punitive damages while accusing Twitter of “knowingly hosting and monetizing content that is clearly abusive, hateful and defamatory.” He also claimed Twitter “shadow-banned” him, a term used to describe when a user’s content is less visible to others” to impact the 2018 midterm election and to “restrict his free speech.”

[Related: ‘Devin Nunes’ Cow’ reacts to lawsuit: ‘I’m not quitting my day job’]

Nunes additionally singled out some Twitter users as defendants who he claims defamed him, including political consultant Liz Mair, who allegedly “implied that Nunes colluded with prostitutes and cocaine addicts, that Nunes does cocaine, and that Nunes was involved in a ‘Russian money laundering front;’” and anonymous Twitter accounts “Devin Nunes’ Mom” and “Devin Nunes’ Cow.”

The same night, Nunes said more lawsuits are in the works.

“This is the first of many lawsuits that are coming,” Nunes told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Monday. “But there were several fake news accounts, whether it was in regard to the Russian investigation or to me, and we have to hold all of these people accountable. Because if we don’t, our First Amendment rights are at stake here.”

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