RICHMOND, Va. (Legal Newsline) – Republican U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes of California is suing CNN, claiming the network's reporting that he met with Ukrainian officials to help "dig up dirt" on Joe Biden is false.
Devin Nunes filed a complaint Dec. 3 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia against Cable News Network Inc. (CNN), alleging defamation and common law conspiracy.
Nunes claims that on Nov. 22, CNN began to report on all of its news platforms, including through CNN reporters' tweets, a false claim made by Lev Parnas, an associate of Rudy Giuliani. Parnas alleged that Nunes met in Vienna in 2018 with a former Ukrainian prosecutor to "discuss digging up dirt" on Joe Biden.
Nunes claims CNN published Parnas' statements "as if they were true" and claims he was never in Vienna in 2018 but was in Libya and Malta during that time. Nunes alleges that he or his staff never met with Ukrainians on that trip to discuss the Bidens.
Nunes seeks monetary relief of $435 million or greater in compensatory damages and $350,000 in punitive damages, a trial by jury and all other just relief. He is represented by Attorney Steven Biss in Charlottesville, Virginia.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia case number 3:19-CV-889