Members of the public will be able to start purchasing shares of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a>’s media company under the name “DJT” on Tuesday, giving the former president a major financial boost as he faces a slew of court cases and continues his 2024 White House campaign. 
The move comes after a merger was finalized between Digital World Acquisition (DWAC) and the Trump Media &amp; Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social. The merger <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-25/donald-trump-6-4-billion-net-worth-makes-him-one-of-world-s-richest-people" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> increases Trump’s net worth by over $4 billion and land him on Bloomberg Billionaires Index for the 500 wealthiest people in the world. 
Shares of DWAC <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=DWAC+shares&amp;client=safari&amp;sca_esv=f25fd1d09a6b1709&amp;channel=mac_bm&amp;source=hp&amp;ei=KuwBZt36BN_HkPIPi_qlsA8&amp;iflsig=ANes7DEAAAAAZgH6OmdX7SkH9nsbxTglaxjmltJlNurP&amp;ved=0ahUKEwjdt9SurZCFAxXfI0QIHQt9CfYQ4dUDCBY&amp;uact=5&amp;oq=DWAC+shares&amp;gs_lp=Egdnd3Mtd2l6IgtEV0FDIHNoYXJlczILEAAYgAQYsQMYgwEyBRAAGIAEMgYQABgWGB4yCxAAGIAEGIoFGIYDMgsQABiABBiKBRiGA0jsAVAAWABwAHgAkAEAmAHSAaAB0gGqAQMyLTG4AQPIAQD4AQL4AQGYAgGgAtsBmAMAkgcDMi0xoAfcAw&amp;sclient=gws-wiz">were</a> just under $50 by late Monday afternoon, up about 186% since the start of the year. On Tuesday, the company will be traded under “DJT” on the Nasdaq stock exchange after merging with Trump Media. 
Bloomberg News <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-25/donald-trump-6-4-billion-net-worth-makes-him-one-of-world-s-richest-people" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted</a> Trump controls about 58% of Trump Media shares and now has a total net worth reach about $6.4 billion. But CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/25/truth-social-owner-trump-media-will-begin-trading-under-djt-ticker-tuesday.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that the former president will have to sit on his shares for at least six months due to trading rules.
The rapid rise of DWAC shares has been in part attributed to Trump supporters who bought into the company in part to back the former president amid his 2024 campaign and legal battles. The media company is valued <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/25/business/trump-media-trading-tuesday.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">much higher</a> than the $3.3 million revenue that was reported for Truth Social from January to September 2023. 
The merger was finalized on Monday after months of negotiations with DWAC CEO Eric Swider to join Trump Media as director.
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1700760801843000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2PQrVSrJfhxNb4LcARqniG">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
“As a public company, we will passionately pursue our vision to build a movement to reclaim the Internet from Big Tech censors,” Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes said in a statement. “We will continue to fulfill our commitment to Americans to serve as a safe harbor for free expression and to stand up to the ever-growing army of speech suppressors.”
Members of the board of Trump media include Nunes, the former president&#8217;s son Donald Trump Jr., and former Trump administration officials including Kash Patel, Robert Lighthizer, and Linda McMahon.
The business news comes as a New York appeals court ruled on Monday that Trump can have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-scores-legal-win-as-new-york-appeals-court-allows-him-to-post-lower-bond-in-civil-fraud-judgment" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an extra 10 days</a> to post a reduced $175 million bond as he challenges a $464 million civil fraud judgment against him, his sons, and his company.

Former President Donald Trump Surrenders To Fulton County Jail In Election Case

Trump’s Media Company To Go Public, Be Traded Under ‘DJT’ On Stock Market

Trump's Media Company To Go Public, Be Traded Under 'DJT' On Stock Market

2024 Election

Devin Nunes

Donald Trump

Stock Market

Former Rep. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/devin-nunes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Devin Nunes</a> (R-CA) accused the Justice Department of spying on his team at a time when he was leading a congressional investigation into the FBI&#8217;s conduct during its Trump-Russia probe.
Two senior House Intelligence Committee staffers were the subject of grand jury subpoenas sent to Google seeking personal email and phone data in November 2017, <a href="https://justthenews.com/accountability/russia-and-ukraine-scandals/doj-spied-house-intelligence-committee-investigators?utm_source=news.google.com&amp;utm_medium=news-app&amp;utm_campaign=external-news-aggregators" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to Just The News</a>. Nunes expressed alarm about the timing as the subpoenas were secretly issued when he was chairman of the intelligence panel and on the cusp of releasing a memo alleging misconduct in the surveillance of a Trump 2016 campaign operative.
“The FBI and DOJ spied on a presidential campaign, and when Congress began exposing what they were doing, they spied on us to find out what we knew and how we knew it,&#8221; Nunes told the news outlet. &#8220;It’s an egregious abuse of power that the next Congress must investigate so these agencies can be held accountable and reformed.”
The motive for these subpoenas remains unclear; The Daily Wire reached out to the Justice Department for comment.
In terms of timing, they were issued around when secret subpoenas were sent to tech companies seeking records of Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee, including then-ranking member Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), their staff, and family members, as the Trump-era Justice Department investigated leaks of classified information, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/10/us/politics/justice-department-leaks-trump-administration.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New York Times reported</a> in June 2021. The ensuing outcry by Democrats led to DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/11/schiff-calls-for-probe-into-trump-doj-seizing-house-democrats-data-.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announcing that he would look into the seizures</a>.
The targets of the newly revealed subpoenas, who were informed by Google this week in compliance with a policy to wait five years after such law enforcement activity, included Kash Patel, a top investigator for the House Intelligence Committee who later served in multiple high-level national security positions within in the Trump administration.
“It&#8217;s so shocking,” Patel told the &#8220;Just the News, Not Noise&#8221; show Monday. &#8220;Because a co-equal branch of government, we as congressional investigators and Devin Nunes, his staff on House Intel were conducting constitutional demanded oversight of the fraudulent acts at the FBI and DOJ which we now know happened.&#8221;
What became known as the &#8220;Nunes memo&#8221; was released in February 2018 <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/02/trump-nunes-memo-released-384977" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in the face of opposition</a> from <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/democratic-rebuttal-to-gop-house-intelligence-memo-released" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Democrats on the intelligence panel</a> and the FBI. The memo alleged abuses by the FBI and Justice Department in seeking Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant authority to snoop on ex-Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page.
The crux of the problems cited by the Republicans was the FBI&#8217;s reliance, in part, on an unverified dossier compiled by British former spy Christopher Steele, a since-discredited document that contained salacious claims tying former President Donald Trump to Russia that <a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-2022-midterm-elections-business-elections-presidential-elections-5468774d18e8c46f81b55e9260b13e93" target="_blank" rel="noopener">benefited from funding</a> via Hillary Clinton&#8217;s 2016 presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Devin Nunes responds to report DOJ issued subpoenas to House intel staffers" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tbO_lvFxZ8E?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The memo was followed by a report by Horowitz criticizing the Justice Department and the FBI for <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/doj-inspector-general-unable-to-say-if-bias-tainted-carter-page-fisa-process" target="_blank" rel="noopener">at least 17</a> “significant errors and omissions” related to the FISA surveillance of Page, who <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/carter-page-calls-charges-that-he-conspired-with-russia-a-complete-joke" target="_blank" rel="noopener">denied being a Russian asset</a> and was never charged with a crime. The Justice Department also declared that at least two of the four FISA warrants targeting Page were “not valid,&#8221; <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/doj-finds-two-carter-page-fisa-orders-not-valid" target="_blank" rel="noopener">as reported by The Washington Examiner</a>.
As part of special counsel John Durham&#8217;s ongoing investigation, which was put together by former Attorney General William Barr to root out misconduct in the FBI&#8217;s Russia inquiry, former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith pleaded guilty to falsifying a document in efforts to renew the authority to conduct FISA surveillance on Page. Clinesmith was <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/29/fbi-lawyer-trump-russia-probe-email-463750" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spared prison time</a> and faced a <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/fbi-lawyer-clinesmith-one-year-bar-suspension-guilty-plea-fisa-deception" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one-year bar suspension</a>.
Nunes, who now leads Trump&#8217;s Truth Social endeavor, said Congress should push Durham to investigate the subpoena matter. &#8220;This is clearly in the realm of what John Durham&#8217;s scope was to look at,&#8221; he said in an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Monday.

Devin Nunes Reacts To DOJ Subpoenas Of His House Intel Staff: ‘They Spied On Us’

Devin Nunes Reacts To DOJ Subpoenas Of His House Intel Staff: 'They Spied On Us'

Congress

Department of Justice

kash patel

Russia

Russiagate

U.S.

Former Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) spent nearly 20 years in Congress before leaving to become the CEO of former President Donald Trump’s media company, Trump Media and Technology Group, which launched the Truth Social platform earlier this year.
In an interview with The Daily Wire, Nunes reflected on his new role with Truth Social and what Elon Musk’s potential purchase of Twitter means for the platform
“We’re all for it,” Nunes said of Musk’s potential acquisition, adding that Truth Social’s purpose is “to give the American people their voice back and open the Internet back up to the world.”
“Having somebody like Elon Musk step up to the plate and taken on these tech tyrants is what we’re encouraging,” the former congressman added.
He went on to say that Truth Social is intended to be a true social networking platform, more like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, rather than Twitter, which he called “a global press release wire over the internet.”
“That’s not what we’re trying to be,” he said.
Nunes also called out numerous “fake news” stories surrounding Truth Social, including what was considered a rocky rollout that was actually a soft launch akin to beta testing. The waitlist that hundreds of thousands saw after signing up for the platform was intended to ensure the platform could handle everyone who wanted to sign up. The determination that it could handle that many users was made in late April, when the platform officially went live and the waitlist disappeared. Trump made an announcement about the platform opening fully during his April 23 rally in Ohio.
As for leaving Congress, Nunes noted how numerous media outlets speculated that he faced a tough re-election campaign when he announced his retirement from Congress in December 2021. CNN, for example, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/06/politics/devin-nunes-retiring/index.html">reported</a> at the time that Nunes “faced the threat of a more-Democratic district through redistricting ahead of next year&#8217;s midterms,” insinuating the congressman may be leaving before he loses his re-election.
Nunes also called this “fake news,” explaining that he jokes that he had “the best job on the planet [leading the House Intelligence Committee] before Donald Trump was elected.”
“Hardly ever were we out in the public. You would only hear from us when there was a terrorist attack or some international emergency,” Nunes told The Daily Wire. “And I went from that to the worst job when the entire committee was politicized for political purposes by the Left.”
Nunes was referring to the high-profile nature of the committee as Democrats investigated whether Trump colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election.
But Nunes said he really decided to leave Congress because of Big Tech censorship, which he wrote about in his 2020 book, “Countdown to Socialism,” and spent the next year promoting around the country.
“If we don&#8217;t have basic communications in this country, we&#8217;re going to hit a very dark place,” Nunes said. “So when Donald Trump called me to take this job, I mean, I can&#8217;t run around and say this is the most important issue at the highest level, to not have a communications architecture for the American people, and then get the opportunity to go out and do it and not do it.”
Finally, Nunes spoke about special counsel John Durham, who is investigating those behind the Russia-collusion narrative. Nunes praised Durham for having a reputation as “a serious investigator bringing real changes,” noting that he had confidence in Durham early on specifically because there were no leaks, unlike special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, which saw regular leaks to various news agencies that ended up being untrue and served only to harm the Trump administration.
“The question is, can the dirty cops, the [Hillary] Clinton campaign, people at the [Democratic National Committee], can they escape like rats off of a ship?” Nunes asked. “And [are] these other characters going to be indicted, or are they willing to spend time in jail to cover up for others? We’ll see.”

Devin Nunes On Life After Congress, Elon Musk, And Big Tech Censorship

Devin Nunes Discusses Elon Musk's Takeover of Twitter, Big Tech Censorship

Big Tech

Elon Musk

Social Media Censorship

Twitter

Republican California Congressman Devin Nunes formally resigned from his office on Monday.
His letter of resignation was read on the floor of the House.
“The honorable, the speaker, House of Representatives, madam, I write to inform you that I have notified California Gov. Gavin Newsom of my resignation from the U.S. House of Representatives effective today at 11:59 p.m.” the letter read.
“It has been the honor of my life to represent the people of California’s San Joaquin Valley for the last 19 years,&#8221; Nunes added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
GOP Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) officially resigns from Congress to become CEO of former President Trump’s media company. <a href="https://t.co/h45SjLxIu0">pic.twitter.com/h45SjLxIu0</a>
— The Recount (@therecount) <a href="https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1478044730495746052?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 3, 2022</a></blockquote>
It was subsequently announced that the current number of House members sits at 433. The other vacancy besides Nunes is the seat of late Democratic Congressman <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-democrat-congressman-alcee-hastings-dies-at-84">Alcee Hastings</a>, who passed away in April of 2021.
Nunes previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-republican-devin-nunes-is-retiring-from-congress">announced</a> in December that he would be resigning from Congress to fill a senior role at the Trump Media &amp; Technology Group, a media enterprise launched by former President Donald Trump. The Hill reports that Nunes will become the CEO of the organization.
Nunes&#8217;s resignation also portends a massive change in the leadership of the Republican Party. The Daily Wire reported that Nunes was in line to assume the chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee in the event of a Republican takeover of the House after the 2022 midterm elections.
Nunes was one of the most prominent figures in the Russia collusion probe, most notably for his role in analyzing the credibility of the Democrat-funded Steele dossier. Even the Washington Post was forced to admit that Nunes&#8217;s 2019 memo about the dossier was significantly more accurate than the memo written by Adam Schiff and House Democrats. The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fact-check-republicans-famous-memo-on-fisa-abuse-blasted-by-democrats-ended-up-getting-it-mostly-right">reported at the time</a>:
<blockquote>Now that Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz has finally released his much-anticipated report on alleged misconduct by the FBI during the 2016 election, two famous memos — one released by Republican Rep. Devin Nunes while he was House Intelligence Committee chairman, and Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, who has since taken over the position — have come under renewed scrutiny. The memos presented dueling versions of how the FBI began to surveil Trump campaign adviser Carter Page in an effort to investigate alleged “collusion” with Russia.
So who had it right? A fact-checker for <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/12/13/vindication-nunes-memo/">The Washington Post</a> has been forced to admit that Nunes got a “fair amount” right — in fact, his version of events aligned far more closely with what Horowitz found than the Democrats’ rebuttal.
&#8220;[H]ow much is the Nunes memo itself vindicated?&#8221; The Washington Post&#8217;s Aaron Blake asks in a fact-check published Friday. &#8220;A fair amound, it turns out,&#8221; writes Blake, adding in an attempt at a qualifier &#8220;at least, in Horowitz&#8217;s estimation.&#8221;
<div id="AV608bfd1f328b2f32b531a418">Blake then walks through the parallel passages in each memo and compares them with what Horowitz’s extensive report concludes, beginning with the most important disagreement between the two: “how accurate and complete the four [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)] applications to surveil Page were.” It turns out that Nunes’ claims aligned more closely with what took place, while Schiff’s counter featured “probably the worst line of the Democrats’ rebuttal&#8230;”</div>
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Another key claim made in Nunes’ memo is that the Democrat-funded dossier by Christopher Steele was “an essential part of the Carter Page FISA application.” The Democrats countered by claiming that the FBI “made only narrow use” of the notorious, unverified and salacious Steele dossier:
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While Blake describes the differences here as “nuanced,” the language in Horowitz’ report is clear enough: Nunes’ once again presents a more accurate description of events than the Democrats’.
A third key disagreement: whether the FBI was transparent about the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s role in funding the Steele dossier:
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While the Democrats’ note is accurate, it fails to take into account that the ties to the DNC and Clinton were omitted in later applications despite the FBI having by then learned about the connection. Horowitz includes this omission as part of his list of 17 omissions and errors he details in his report.
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Devin Nunes Officially Resigns From Congress

California Congressman Devin Nunes is retiring from Congress in 2022, reports KMJ&#8217;s Ray Appleton. The California radio station also noted that the representative is reportedly &#8220;taking a senior executive leader position in a soon-to-be launched Trump media enterprise.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
MORE: <a href="https://twitter.com/DevinNunes?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DevinNunes</a> is retiring after his term in congress in 2022. According to KMJ&#39;s <a href="https://twitter.com/RayAppleton?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RayAppleton</a> Congressman Nunes will be taking a senior executive leader position in a soon-to-be launched Trump media enterprise. <a href="https://t.co/Vw756M5Dkr">pic.twitter.com/Vw756M5Dkr</a>
&mdash; KMJ NOW (@KMJNOW) <a href="https://twitter.com/KMJNOW/status/1467973357928804353?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 6, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Nunes is currently in his 10th term in Congress and has long been hailed as a hero by former President Donald Trump and his supporters for his drive to discredit the Steele Dossier.
As The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fact-check-republicans-famous-memo-on-fisa-abuse-blasted-by-democrats-ended-up-getting-it-mostly-right">reported</a> in 2019, even The Washington Post had to admit that Nunes was more correct in his assertions regarding the dossier and chief Trump critic Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA) had been proven mostly wrong:
<blockquote>Now that Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz has finally released his much-anticipated report on alleged misconduct by the FBI during the 2016 election, two famous memos — one released by Republican Rep. Devin Nunes while he was House Intelligence Committee chairman, and Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, who has since taken over the position — have come under renewed scrutiny. The memos presented dueling versions of how the FBI began to surveil Trump campaign adviser Carter Page in an effort to investigate alleged “collusion” with Russia.
So who had it right? A fact-checker for <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/12/13/vindication-nunes-memo/">The Washington Post</a> has been forced to admit that Nunes got a “fair amount” right — in fact, his version of events aligned far more closely with what Horowitz found than the Democrats’ rebuttal.</blockquote>
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“[H]ow much is the Nunes memo itself vindicated?” The Washington Post’s Aaron Blake asks in a fact-check published Friday. “A fair amount, it turns out,” writes Blake, adding in an attempt at a qualifier “at least, in Horowitz’s estimation.”
Blake then walks through the parallel passages in each memo and compares them with what Horowitz’s extensive report concludes, beginning with the most important disagreement between the two: “how accurate and complete the four [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)] applications to surveil Page were.” It turns out that Nunes’ claims aligned more closely with what took place, while Schiff’s counter featured “probably the worst line of the Democrats’ rebuttal.”
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Another key claim made in Nunes’ memo is that the Democrat-funded dossier by Christopher Steele was “an essential part of the Carter Page FISA application.” The Democrats countered by claiming that the FBI “made only narrow use” of the notorious, unverified and salacious Steele dossier:
[&#8230;]</blockquote>
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While Blake describes the differences here as “nuanced,” the language in Horowitz’ report is clear enough: Nunes’ once again presents a more accurate description of events than the Democrats’.
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Nunes&#8217; retirement from Congress is huge in terms of shaking up the political landscape for the Republican party.
As mentioned by Politico&#8217;s Jake Sherman, Nunes &#8220;was in line to be Ways and Means chairman in the House Republican majority.&#8221;
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Devin Nunes is retiring. He was in line to be Ways and Means chairman in the House Republican majority 
He is “rumored” to be taking a job with the Trump media start up<a href="https://t.co/GhQEoyb3Ua">https://t.co/GhQEoyb3Ua</a>
&mdash; Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) <a href="https://twitter.com/JakeSherman/status/1467971604017815557?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 6, 2021</a></blockquote>
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This is a developing news story; stay tuned for updates.
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Republican Devin Nunes Is Retiring From Congress

Steele Dossier

House Intelligence Ranking Member Devin Nunes (R-CA) warned during a hearing on Wednesday that the Biden administration&#8217;s focus on &#8220;wokeness&#8221; was leaving the U.S. in a dangerous national security position that could cause the U.S. to lose wars.
Nunes made the remarks during the Committee&#8217;s hearing on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility in the Intelligence Community.
Nunes warned that the Intelligence Community &#8220;seems to be increasingly focused on issues that distract from that mission, the indications ranging from trivial recruitment videos to major intelligence estimates show that an infatuation with left-wing dogma and politicized actions that have nothing to do with deterring our enemies and winning wars.&#8221;
&#8220;Meanwhile, the international threat matrix does not take time out as our national security agencies become enthralled by critical race theory and pronoun etiquette,&#8221; Nunes said. &#8220;To the contrary, we&#8217;re facing an array of pressing challenges, including but not limited to China&#8217;s increasing aggressiveness towards Taiwan alongside its systemic campaign of intellectual property theft, espionage, currency manipulation, corporate corrosion, and cyber crimes against the United States and our allies. China&#8217;s testing of hypersonic missile which, according to press reports, took the intelligence community by surprise. The continuing fallout from our withdrawal from Afghanistan, including the empowerment of the Taliban, and their longtime ties to al Qaeda. The decline in U.S. deterrence capabilities, the loss of intelligence streams, and U.S. citizens and allies who were left behind. The spread of ransomware attacks on U.S. targets, an unknown number of security threats entering America through our southern border and from refugees from Afghanistan. Continuing Russian aggression towards its neighbors. Advances in nuclear weapons programs of North Korea, Iran and other malign regimes.&#8221;
&#8220;Unfortunately, we can&#8217;t counter hypersonic missile launch with better pronoun usage,&#8221; Nunes continued. &#8220;And a deeper understanding of white rage won&#8217;t rescue Americans stranded in Afghanistan. I&#8217;d argue that woke obsessions are the proper jurisdiction of faculty lounge Marxists, not our national security agencies. The politicization of our national security apparatus is utterly destructive.&#8221;
WATCH:
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TRANSCRIPT:
<blockquote>REP. DEVIN NUNES (R-CA): On its website, the Office of Director of National Intelligence asserts that the intelligence community focuses on, I quote, &#8216;the missions of cyber intelligence, counterterrorism, counterproliferation, counterintelligence, and on the threats posed by state and non-state actors challenging U.S. national security and interest world wide,&#8217; unquote. That&#8217;s a concise, accurate description of the intelligence community&#8217;s mission. The IC is a sprawling group of agencies comprising tens of thousands of people that collectively wield enormous power within our government. They possess extremely sophisticated spying capabilities, and by necessity, they operate without transparency that is required of most government agencies. Naturally, this concentration of power, spying capabilities, and lack of transparency creates many opportunities for abuse. And abuses do happen, which is why this committee exists, we were created as an additional level of oversight in response to a raft of intelligence community misdeeds, detailed by the Church and Pike Committees in the 1970s. So, why do we tolerate such an agreement in a democratic republic? I believe that the American people understand the risks but they believe the risks are outweighed by the benefits the intelligence community provides, mainly information about our foreign enemies, intentions, and capabilities that will help protect the American people and defend the security of the homeland. In short, the intelligence community&#8217;s mission is to secure information and conduct actions that help deter our enemies, when that cannot be done, to help us win wars and other direct conflicts with these enemies. The IC however, seems to be increasingly focused on issues that distract from that mission, the indications ranging from trivial recruitment videos to major intelligence estimates show that an infatuation with left-wing dogma and politicized actions that have nothing to do with deterring our enemies and winning wars. We see this tendency not just in the intelligence community, but throughout the entire national security apparatus, and the military, the State Department and other bodies. 
These include the proliferation of seminars given to military service members focusing on the dangers of white supremacy and systemic racism, Fox News host Tucker Carlson allegedly being caught up in NSA surveillance, the Intelligence Committees recent release of the national intelligence estimate on global warming, General Milley defending instruction on critical race theory and white rage at West Point, State Department communications touting international pronoun day, the NSA&#8217;s improper suspension of former NSA general counsel a naval officer Michael Ellis for political reasons, the FBI is provision of false information to a FISA court to spy on their political enemies, and the list goes on and on. 
Meanwhile, the international threat matrix does not take time out as our national security agencies become enthralled by critical race theory and pronoun etiquette. To the contrary, we&#8217;re facing an array of pressing challenges, including but not limited to China&#8217;s increasing aggressiveness towards Taiwan alongside its systemic campaign of intellectual property theft, espionage, currency manipulation, corporate corrosion, and cyber crimes against the United States and our allies. China&#8217;s testing of hypersonic missile which, according to press reports, took the intelligence community by surprise. The continuing fallout from our withdrawal from Afghanistan, including the empowerment of the Taliban, and their longtime ties to al Qaeda. The decline in U.S. deterrence capabilities, the loss of intelligence streams, and U.S. citizens and allies who were left behind. The spread of ransomware attacks on U.S. targets, an unknown number of security threats entering America through our southern border and from refugees from Afghanistan. Continuing Russian aggression towards its neighbors. Advances in nuclear weapons programs of North Korea, Iran and other malign regimes. And I could go on with that list, but those are at the top of the list. 
Unfortunately, we can&#8217;t counter hypersonic missile launch with better pronoun usage. And a deeper understanding of white rage won&#8217;t rescue Americans stranded in Afghanistan. I&#8217;d argue that woke obsessions are the proper jurisdiction of faculty lounge Marxists, not our national security agencies. The politicization of our national security apparatus is utterly destructive. It has severely eroded trust and institutions that have long received bipartisan support. This effect is predictable and inevitable, as more Americans conclude that intelligence agencies are just another weapon in domestic political battles, the less willing they are to concede these agencies, the huge power that they will. The intelligence community, the military, and other national security bodies have traditionally been colorblind meritocracies, where the most capable people move up rapidly through the ranks. The effectiveness of these organizations will unavoidably suffer when merit is devalued in favor of any other consideration. I urge all the directors here today to stay out of politics and concentrate exclusively on deterring our enemies and winning wars. As we learned in Afghanistan, America is not unbeatable. We have real enemies, and they mean to do us harm. They have no interest in global warming, or race-gender intersectionality. They closely watch us every day to find weaknesses that would enable attacks on our citizens and our homeland. Our defense against them rests to a large extent on all of you that are here today. I hope your priorities will match the urgency of this fraught moment in our nation&#8217;s history. With that I look forward to your testimony, I yield back the balance of my time.</blockquote>

Key Speakers At Conservative Political Action Conference

Devin Nunes Tees Off On Biden: ‘We Can’t Counter Hypersonic Missile Launch With Better Pronoun Usage’

Joe Biden

U.S. Military

Wokeness

One of the Republican congressmen who most visibly opposed Democrats’ mishandling of classified information has sued MSNBC’s parent company on the grounds that Rachel Maddow defamed him.
Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) filed a lawsuit against NBCUniversal on Tuesday over claims that Maddow made, suggesting that Nunes did not turn over a package he received from a pro-Russian Ukrainian lawmaker in late 2019.
“How do Republicans keep Devin Nunes on as the ranking member of the Intelligence Committee given his unexplained interactions with Andriy Derkach?” the show’s official account <a href="https://twitter.com/MaddowBlog/status/1372745804981604354">tweeted</a> at the time.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
How do Republicans keep Devin Nunes on as the ranking member of the Intelligence Committee given his unexplained interactions with Andriy Derkach? <a href="https://t.co/d9wKsrJVAe">pic.twitter.com/d9wKsrJVAe</a>
&mdash; Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) <a href="https://twitter.com/MaddowBlog/status/1372745804981604354?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 19, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“Congressman Nunes has refused to answer questions about what he received from Andriy Derkach. He has refused to show the contents of the package to other members of the intelligence community,&#8221; Maddow told MSNBC viewers. &#8220;He has refused to hand it over to the FBI, which is what you should do if you get something from somebody who is sanctioned by the U.S. as a Russian agent.”
But in a 17-page legal complaint, Nunes states that Maddow knew that he turned the package over to the FBI and alerted then-Attorney General William Barr at the time, but she chose to run the segment without asking him for a comment.
These “statements were a product of Maddow’s imagination,” <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/aug/4/devin-nunes-sues-for-defamation-over-rachel-maddow/">said</a> his lawyers, Madhu S. Sekharan and Steven S. Biss. “She made them up out of whole cloth in order to impute intentional wrongdoing to” Nunes.
“Although Maddow made it appear as if she had direct knowledge of facts, she did not have one shred of evidence to support the statements,” they said.
“The statements falsely accuse [Nunes] of criminal conduct (obstruction of justice and treason), serious breaches of the Code of Conduct and violations of protocols concerning the handling of information that comes to the House Intelligence Committee from foreign sources such as Derkach, concealment and deception, lack of integrity and ethical improprieties,&#8221; they continued.
Nunes’ attorneys stated that Maddow aired the spurious allegations, because “MSNBC and Maddow harbor an institutional hostility, hatred, extreme bias, spite and ill-will towards plaintiff due to plaintiff&#8217;s emergence as the most prominent skeptic in Congress of Maddow&#8217;s marquee news narrative from 2017 to 2019: that the Trump campaign colluded with Russians to hack the 2016 presidential elections.”
Nunes could face an uphill battle against Maddow because at least one judge has already ruled that Maddow&#8217;s viewers are aware that statements Maddow makes on her show may not be &#8220;fact.&#8221;
After One America News Network sued Maddow for falsely claiming that OANN received money from the Russian government, U.S. District Judge Cynthia Bashant — an Obama appointee — ruled last May that Rachel Maddow’s “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/judge-rules-rachel-maddows-statements-cannot-reasonably-be-interpreted-as-allegations-of-fact">statements cannot reasonably be interpreted as allegations of fact</a>”
The Nunes segment aired on the March 18, 2021, episode of MSNBC’s top-rated program, the “Rachel Maddow Show.”
Nunes, who serves as the ranking Republican on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, earned the ire of congressional Democrats in February 2018, when he released a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/6-serious-outstanding-questions-house-intelligence-ben-shapiro">four-page memo</a> summarizing abuses the Obama administration’s FBI and Justice Department engaged in to obtain a FISA warrant to spy on Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
Derkach has also been an irritant to Democrats. Last May, Derkach released what he claimed was a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ukrainian-lawmaker-releases-recorded-phone-calls-of-biden-poroshenko-that-contain-eyebrow-raising-remarks">private recording</a> of then-Vice President Joe Biden speaking with then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko that appeared to confirm the allegation that Biden demanded a quid pro quo from the Ukrainian leader. In it, Joe Biden allegedly boasted to the Council on Foreign Relations that he threatened to withhold a $1 billion loan guarantee unless Poroshenko fired prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who was investigating the Ukrainian oil company Burisma, which employed Hunter Biden.
“Despite the fact that we didn’t have any corruption charges, we don’t have any information about him doing something wrong … I specifically asked him to resign,” Poroshenko said.
Nunes has attempted to hold the media accountable for misstatements about him in the past. He sued CNN for <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/08/04/rep-nunes-sues-msnbc-after-rachel-maddow-allegedly-smeared-him/">$435 million</a> for accusing him of being part of an opposition research project against Joe and Hunter Biden. In 2019, he sued Twitter for $250 million for silencing center-Right content. Judges dismissed both lawsuits.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/judge-rules-rachel-maddows-statements-cannot-reasonably-be-interpreted-as-allegations-of-fact">https://www.dailywire.com/news/judge-rules-rachel-maddows-statements-cannot-reasonably-be-interpreted-as-allegations-of-fact</a>
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
&nbsp;

Rachel Maddow Speaks At Harvard

‘She Made Them Up Out Of Whole Cloth’: Republican Congressman Sues Rachel Maddow Over Russian Allegations

Media Bias

MSNBC

Rachel Maddow

The media this week attempted to paint a Justice Department subpoena as an abuse of power by the Trump administration. It was no such thing.
The story, <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/how-far-did-bill-barr-s-justice-dept-go-help-n1267736">according to MSNBC</a>, is that the DOJ under Trump went after a parody Twitter account that got under the skin of Trump ally Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA). The truth, however, is that Nunes had nothing to do with the DOJ’s subpoena, which was actually about a threat made to then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
The truth was uncovered by The New York Times:
<blockquote>The Trump-era Justice Department’s attempt to identify the person behind a Twitter account devoted to mocking Representative Devin Nunes, Republican of California, stemmed from a U.S. Capitol Police investigation into a purported online threat to Senator Mitch McConnell, not to Mr. Nunes, according to two law enforcement officials.</blockquote>
The Biden administration withdrew the subpoena, and Twitter had filed a motion to quash it in which the company mocked Nunes, writing that this was one of many “repeated efforts to unmask individuals behind parody accounts critical of him.”
The Times’ original article on the subpoena, however, didn’t mention McConnell and left the door open for speculation that the subpoena was merely a way for the Trump administration to intimidate those who bothered his allies. The article focused on Twitter’s response to the subpoena.
“As the custodian entrusted with the private identifying information that the government seeks, Twitter is concerned the subpoena may not be supported by a legitimate law enforcement purpose, and that therefore, there cannot be any need — let alone a compelling need — for the government to unmask the user,” an attorney for Twitter wrote in response to the subpoena.
“As such, Twitter asks that the court engage in a searching analysis of the government’s bases for issuing the subpoena in order to determine whether the subpoena violates the First Amendment and should be quashed,” Twitter continued.
As The Federalist <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2021/05/20/lefties-mock-devin-nunes-over-twitter-troll-subpoena-he-had-nothing-to-do-with/">reported</a>, the false narrative surrounding this subpoena was peddled by The Washington Post, New York Magazine, and Vanity Fair prior to the real story being reported by the Times. More from the Federalist:
<blockquote>While MSNBC reported federal prosecutors who pursued the case failed to show the specific threat to warrant the reveal, the Times wrote, “the offending post had since been deleted or removed,” citing one of the officials consulted.
The paper reported law enforcement officials said the post in question came from a threat to McConnell around the time he drew bitter backlash from Democrats when he pledged to move forward with the confirmation process of Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.
“The new information suggests that Mr. Nunes, whose office has not responded to a request for comment, may [not] have had any role in the subpoena,” the Times wrote.</blockquote>
This is simply the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/daily-beast-targets-devin-nunes-thinly-sourced-ashe-schow">latest</a> example of the media <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/daily-beast-publishes-yet-another-lame-hit-piece-on-devin-nunes">rushing</a> to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/daily-beast-tries-again-smear-prominent-republican-ashe-schow">condemn</a> Nunes for a bogus story.

Media Claimed Trump DOJ Went After Twitter Troll On Behalf Of Devin Nunes. That’s Not True.

Trump Administration

In response to Big Tech&#8217;s nearly unified ban on the social media app Parler, conservatives have been sounding the alarm over what it could mean for the future of speech.
Speaking with Maria Bartiromo on &#8220;Sunday Morning Futures,&#8221; Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) said that the collective attack on Twitter alternative Parler by Amazon, Apple, and Google warrants an investigation for any violations of antitrust laws, civil rights, and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
“The effect of this is that there is no longer a free and open social media company or site for any American to get on any longer, because these big companies – Apple, Amazon, Google – they have just destroyed a — what was likely — Parler is likely a billion-dollar company,&#8221; said Nunes. &#8220;Poof, it’s gone. But it’s more than just the financial aspect to that. Republicans have no way to communicate. If — it doesn’t even matter if you’re a Republican or conservative.”
“If you don’t want to be regulated by left-wingers that are at Twitter and Facebook and Instagram, where you get shadowbanned, nobody gets to see you &#8230; they get to decide what’s violent or not violent; it’s preposterous,” Nunes continued. “So, I don’t know where the hell the Department of Justice is at right now or the FBI. This is clearly a violation of antitrust, civil rights, the RICO statute. There should be a racketeering investigation on all the people that coordinated this attack on not only a company, but on all of those like us, like me, like you, Maria. I have 3 million followers on Parler. Tonight, I will no longer be able to communicate with those people. And they’re Americans.”
Amazon, Apple, and Google charged that Parler failed to regulate violent speech, which allegedly culminated in the violent riot on Capitol Hill last Wednesday.
“We have received numerous complaints regarding objectionable content in your Parler service, accusations that the Parler app was used to plan, coordinate, and facilitate the illegal activities in Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021 that led (among other things) to loss of life, numerous injuries, and the destruction of property,” <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/apple-threatens-parler-moderate-or-youre-out">Apple wrote</a> in a letter to Parler. “The app also appears to continue to be used to plan and facilitate yet further illegal and dangerous activities.”
Nunes, however, stressed that Parler worked in accordance with the law and would take action against people who engaged in illegal activity on the site.
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After Twitter removed President Trump&#8217;s personal account from its platform, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) – no friend of President Trump – expressed concern about Big Tech&#8217;s power to silence people in the future.
“For months, President Trump has been using social media platforms to seed doubt about the results of the election and to undermine the will of voters. We understand the desire to permanently suspend him now, but it should concern everyone when companies like Facebook and Twitter wield the unchecked power to remove people from platforms that have become indispensable for the speech of billions – especially when political realities make those decisions easier. President Trump can turn to his press team or Fox News to communicate with the public, but others – like the many Black, Brown, and LGBTQ activists who have been censored by social media companies – will not have that luxury. It is our hope that these companies will apply their rules transparently to everyone,” the ACLU wrote.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/aclu-worries-about-social-medias-unchecked-power-to-remove-people-from-platforms-after-twitter-facebook-ban-trump">ACLU Worries About Social Media’s ‘Unchecked Power To Remove People From Platforms’ After Twitter, Facebook Ban Trump</a>

House Judiciary Committee Holds Second Hearing In Trump Impeachment Inquiry

WATCH: Devin Nunes After Parler Ban: ‘There Should Be A Racketeering Investigation’

Parler

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) said that Attorney General William Barr should appoint a special counsel to investigate the origins of the Russian collusion conspiracy to protect an ongoing probe from a potential Biden administration.
Nunes, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, appeared on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” with host Maria Bartiromo on Sunday to discuss “growing concerns” that a Democratic presidential nominee would significantly limit or shut down an ongoing investigation into the origins of Russia collusion allegations. Barr appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham to investigate the investigators of the allegations that dogged President Trump for years into his presidency.
“Now we’re sitting waiting for Durham to complete this investigation. I think people are getting not only very frustrated but also, there’s a growing concern that Durham is not going to come out with anything and then Biden and Obama are going to be back in, and they’re going to shut this investigation off,” Nunes told Bartiromo, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/devin-nunes-warns-growing-concern-that-biden-and-obama-will-shut-down-durham-inquiry">The Washington Examiner</a>.
“I’ve been very clear about this,” the congressman said. “Every day that ticks by, it’s going to become an absolute necessity that a special counsel is appointed on the way out. Now that doesn’t mean that Biden wouldn’t fire the special counsel, but at least you’d have a special counsel office set up, with money, so that this investigation can continue, because I’m not seeing the indictments that I should be seeing when you take into the account that I’ve made 14 criminal referrals involving dozens and dozens of people.”
On Sept. 17, 10 Democratic senators sent a letter to Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz calling on the government watchdog to investigate whether the Durham investigation is being used for political purposes by the Trump administration. As <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kamala-harris-and-9-other-dems-call-for-investigation-into-durham-investigation">The Daily Wire</a> reports:
<blockquote>“We write to request that you investigate whether U.S. Attorney John Durham’s investigation complies with Department of Justice policies, including policies that protect criminal investigations from political influence,” wrote the Senate Democrats in the letter to Horowitz. “The Department’s mission ‘to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans’ requires that its prosecutorial decisions be insulated from political influence. To that end, longstanding rules restrain Department personnel from publicly commenting on public investigations, taking actions that may affect an upcoming election, and communicating with the White House about ongoing criminal investigations.”
The letter cites three specific examples, including a report from the Hartford Courant that a former top assistant to Durham recently resigned over concerns of political influence, and a comment from Attorney General William Barr suggesting that the Durham investigation would yield “significant developments” before the general election in November. 
“These actions suggest that the Durham investigation is being misused for partisan political purposes and undermine the legitimacy of any investigative steps Mr. Durham takes,” the letter continued. “In addition, it remains unclear what rules and authority permit the public release of a ‘report’ by U.S. Attorney Durham, raising additional concerns about the legitimacy of his appointment and work.”</blockquote>
Durham has yet to release a report on his investigation, however, despite pressure from President Trump to come out with information prior to the election. An October report said <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-attorney-john-durham-will-not-release-report-on-russia-criminal-investigation-before-election-report-says">Durham</a> was taking his time with the investigation without worrying about artificial political deadlines.

Devin Nunes Calls For Special Counsel To Take Over Probe Of Russia Investigation Over ‘Growing Concern’ Biden May Shut It Down

John Durham

William Barr

Last year, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) said in two lawsuits that his wife and the school where she works as a third-grade teacher received threatening messages and were forced to enhance security as a result.
The Fresno Bee, which is owned by McClatchy, did what it could to paint Nunes as a liar, by requesting documents from the school relating to Nunes’ allegations. McClatchy filed a public records request asking for “any correspondence from staff about feeling harassed or documents related to enhanced security measures,” the outlet said in its <a href="https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article235143107.html">report</a> of the request.
Terri Rufert, the Sundale Union Elementary School District superintendent, responded to the request by saying the district “does not have any records responsive to these requests.” Rufert wouldn’t answer the outlet’s questions about whether any teachers or staff were harassed or if the school had to increase security.
On Monday, The Daily Wire exclusively <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-man-arrested-for-stalking-threatening-devin-nunes-wife-an-elementary-school-teacher">reported</a> that a man had been charged with sending threatening messages to Elizabeth Nunes, the congressman’s wife. As The Daily Wire explained, the threats against Elizabeth came after a prolonged political campaign against Rep. Nunes. In 2018, Michael Seeley, a member of the left-wing group Southern California Americans for Democratic Action, filed a California Public Records Act request to obtain Elizabeth Nunes’ work emails. Seeley posted Elizabeth’s emails online in multiple batches. Following the release of the emails, Nunes said his wife and the school district received a wave of harassing phone calls and emails.
After The Daily Wire’s report, the Fresno Bee wrote its own <a href="https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article245408730.html">article</a> on the charges against William Joseph Burden, again writing that no records backed up Nunes’ claims that his wife and her school were the targets of harassment and threats. This time, however, Rufert told the outlet that threats had indeed been made to the school prior to the January date listed on the criminal complaint against Burden and that the school did have to take additional security measures due to the threats.
The Fresno Bee and its owner, McClatchy, have a long history of anti-Nunes bias. In 2018, the Bee <a href="https://www.fresnobee.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/political-notebook/article216488315.html">profiled</a> Nunes and asked in the headline if he was a traitor. It then ran <a href="https://www.fresnobee.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/political-notebook/article216488315.html">two</a> <a href="https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/op-ed/article226830019.html">separate</a> op-eds from Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), who sits on the House Intelligence Committee with Nunes, accusing the Republican of covering up alleged collusion between President Donald Trump and Russia to steal the 2016 election. As Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report and a subsequent Inspector General report showed, it was Nunes who was correct about the Trump-Russia narrative, not Democrats or their media supporters.
Fresno Bee reporter Kate Irby has also written <a href="https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article239698653.html">two</a> <a href="https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article241064301.html">separate</a> articles critical of Nunes’ lawyer, Steve Biss, who is representing Nunes in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/devin-nunes-files-massive-lawsuit-against-ashe-schow">his lawsuit</a> against McClatchy, which he filed after the outlet tried to connect the congressman to a yacht party that took place at a winery partly owned by Nunes.
The article was published in 2018 but featured events that took place in 2015 and had nothing to do with Nunes. Nunes, according to the lawsuit “was (and is) a limited partner of the Alpha Omega Winery.” During a charity event, a third party auctioned off use of the yacht. Those who won the auction went on to use the yacht for a party that allegedly included the use of cocaine and underage prostitutes. An employee of Alpha Omega Winery went on to sue the company because of the event, Nunes’ lawsuit says.
The lawsuit goes on to claim that McClatchy knowingly published false information about the event in order to smear Nunes. For example, the McClatchy article stated that guests on board the yacht were “top investors” in the winery, even though Alpha Omega released a statement in 2016 saying, “No one in the group had any personal or business connection to the winery or its owners, and no Alpha Omega staff knew anyone in the group.”
Also in the article, according to Nunes’ lawsuit, McClatchy claimed that it was “unclear … if he [Nunes] was … affiliated with the fundraiser.” Nunes claims in the lawsuit that McClatchy had been informed by Alpha Omega “that Nunes had no affiliation whatsoever with the event.”
Opinion editors at the Fresno Bee also published <a href="https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article235501072.html">an op-ed</a> claiming Nunes “alleged, without evidence, that Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee had sought nude photos of Trump.” In reality, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) fell for a radio prank offering nude photos of Trump. Schiff later claimed he knew it was a prank, but the transcript gives no indication that was the case.
Breitbart’s Matthew Boyle recently published <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/08/28/fusion-gps-leader-bragged-in-2019-book-about-planting-false-attacks-against-devin-nunes-in-local-newspaper/">an article</a> revealing that opposition research firm Fusion GPS, the firm behind most of the false Trump-Russia collusion narrative, planted negative Nunes stories in the Fresno Bee.

McClatchy Reverses Course, Reports Nunes Was Right About Wife’s School Needing Enhanced Security

A criminal complaint was filed against a California man earlier this month for sending threatening messages to Elizabeth Nunes, wife of Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), who is the ranking member on the powerful House Intelligence Committee and one of the driving forces behind exposing the false narrative that President Donald Trump colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election.
A misdemeanor criminal complaint was filed on August 13, 2020, against William Joseph Burden (also known as William Joseph Terrell) after he allegedly sent threats and harassed Elizabeth, identified only as “E.N.” in the complaint obtained by The Daily Wire, which can exclusively report that E.N. does, in fact, stand for Elizabeth Nunes. Burden is accused of “unlawfully, and with intent to annoy,” calling or electronically contacting Elizabeth with “obscene language,” including a “threat to inflict injury” to her or her property and family.
The man was not arrested, due to coronavirus restrictions, but a complaint was filed against him and he was ordered to appear before a court.
The criminal complaint is short, and merely states what is prohibited by the law without disclosing specific details of what Burden did. Nunes’ office, however, told The Daily Wire that Burden sent a series of threatening and lewd communications to Elizabeth aimed at her and her children. At the same time, similar threats were sent to the school where Elizabeth teaches third grade. Nunes’ office said it hopes the FBI can determine whether Burden was responsible for both sets of messages or if he was working with someone else.
Terri Rufert, Superintendent for the Sundale Union Elementary School District where Elizabeth works, confirmed in an exclusive statement that Nunes’ wife was the target of threats, stalking, and harassment.
“We would like to thank the U.S. Capitol Police, the Tulare County Sheriff&#8217;s Office, and the Tulare County District Attorney for taking action to protect our students and teachers. We take threats aimed at our school and our kids seriously. We will not tolerate any form of harassment or stalking directed at any of our students or teachers,” Rufert said.
The threats against Elizabeth come after a prolonged political campaign against Congressman Devin Nunes. In 2018, Michael Seeley, a member of the left-wing group Southern California Americans for Democratic Action, filed a California Public Records Act request to obtain Elizabeth Nunes’ work emails. Seeley posted Elizabeth’s emails online in multiple batches. Following the release of the emails, Nunes said his wife and the school district received a wave of harassing phone calls and emails.
In a lawsuit, Nunes claimed the harassment led to the doxing of school administrators and teachers and required the school to increase security measures.
“Seeley published Elizabeth Nunes’ emails online and included the names and email addresses of numerous school administrators and teachers, resulting in extensive harassment of these innocent, hard-working citizens of Tulare County, including hateful accusations that they teach bigotry and racism,” the lawsuit said. “In fact, the school was so concerned about security problems resulting from this situation that it adopted enhanced security measures.”
McClatchy looked into the claim after Nunes also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/devin-nunes-files-massive-lawsuit-against-ashe-schow">filed a lawsuit</a> against the media outlet for allegedly interfering in a congressional probe and claimed no evidence supported Nunes’ suggestion about the school. The Fresno Bee, a staunchly anti-Nunes media outlet owned by McClatchy, <a href="https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article235143107.html">reported</a> that Rufert said the school district “does not have any records responsive to these requests,” referring to requests from McClatchy for correspondence from school staff saying they felt harassed or any documents proving enhanced security measures. Rufert did acknowledge that the district spent $17,455 in legal fees as a result of the public records requests.
Nunes maintains that the threats did occur, and the school was forced to adopt enhanced security measures.
Following Seeley’s publishing of Elizabeth’s emails, the Campaign for Accountability, a liberal non-profit, filed <a href="https://campaignforaccountability.org/work/ethics-complaint-against-rep-devin-nunes-for-lying-about-his-investments-in-several-california-companies/">an ethics complaint</a> against Nunes citing one of the emails. The complaint suggested Nunes failed to accurately disclose his investments in Alpha &amp; Omega Winery and Phase 2 Cellars, its sister winery. An email sent to Elizabeth from a law firm working with Alpha &amp; Omega contained documents for her to sign and fill out that related to her and her husband’s investment in the wineries. The ethics complaint alleged that since the documents said a minimum buy-in would cost $200,000, but Nunes only listed his investment as being between $50,000 and $100,000, either he lied on his disclosure form or had some kind of agreement to invest at a lower price.
The Federalist’s Erielle Davidson in 2018 <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2018/09/06/resistance-torches-devin-nunes-family-dared-expose-intel-agencies-collusion-democrats/">asked</a> Campaign for Accountability multiple times whether they collaborated with Seeley but refused to comment. Nunes’ communications director, Jack Langer, told Davidson that there was no ethics violation regarding Nunes’ investment in the winery, as he, Davidson reported, “simply pooled his money with other investors in a holding company to meet the minimum investment.”
Campaign for Accountability also has ties to Fusion GPS, the organization behind the infamous “Steele Dossier” that led to allegations that Trump colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election from Hillary Clinton. Nunes spent years working to unravel the false narrative that Fusion GPS helped build. Another complaint filed by Campaign for Accountability against Nunes accused the congressman of leaking the name of Fusion GPS’s bank to the press. Nunes had issued a subpoena to the bank demanding Fusion’s financial records. Fusion fought the subpoena in court and lost, resulting in the revelation that Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee had ultimately funded the Steele Dossier. The Clinton campaign and DNC hired law firm Perkins Coie to dig up dirt on Trump during the 2016 election. Perkins Coie paid Fusion GPS, which worked with Steele to create the salacious document that included numerous falsehoods and sketchy claims that have not been proven.
Campaign for Accountability also filed a third complaint against Nunes, alleging he leaked text messages between Senate Intelligence committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-VA) and Adam Waldman, a lobbyist for Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. The text messages revealed that Warner attempted to get Waldman to provide him a back channel to communicate with Steele without the rest of the senate committee finding out.
The Daily Caller <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2019/08/01/liberal-watchdog-fusion-gps-trump/">reported</a> in August 2019 that Campaign for Accountability paid Fusion nearly $140,000 for research, though the organization’s executive director denied hiring Fusion to attack Nunes.
Fusion’s own founders admitted to running a smear campaign against Nunes during his re-election campaign in 2018 in their book, “Crime in Progress.”
“Fusion didn’t ordinarily work on congressional races, but as the election drew closer the firm began to mull a few ways it could have an impact. Later, it would decide to design and launch a more systematic cyber-monitoring campaign, but first it went small, focusing on a single congressional district in California’s heavily agricultural Central Valley. That solidly red seat happened to have been occupied since 2003 by one Devin Nunes,” the authors wrote.
In a statement to The Daily Wire, Nunes thanked “the investigators in the Tulare County Sheriff&#8217;s Office and in the District Attorney&#8217;s office as well as the Capitol Police,” who helped arrest Burden.
“All threats will continue to be turned over to the proper authorities,&#8221; Nunes added.
Correction: An earlier version of this story said the man who threatened Nunes&#8217; wife had been arrested, but he was not, due to coronavirus concerns. The criminal complaint was filed and he was ordered to appear before a judge.

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