Trump DOJ tried to unmask a Twitter account behind ‘mean tweets and bad memes’ that teased Rep. Devin Nunes

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After Rep. Devin Nunes failed last summer to force Twitter to unmask several accounts dedicated to ruthlessly mocking the California Republican, the Justice Department took aim at one of the congressman’s anonymous critics.

Court filings unsealed this week revealed that in the last months of the Trump presidency, the Justice Department used a grand jury subpoena to demand the identity of whoever was behind @NunesAlt, a Twitter account that criticized Nunes, a close ally of former president Donald Trump.

Twitter strongly objected to the November request and filed a motion to quash it, noting Nunes’s own failed legal efforts to reveal the identities of his Twitter detractors. Continue reading.

Devin Nunes’ aide and attorney ordered to pay CNN’s legal fees for filing ‘bad faith’ legal document: report

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The Merced Sun-Star is reporting that a close aide to Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) and his lawyer have been sanctioned over their continuing efforts to sue CNN.

The report notes that Nunes’ senior aide Derek Harvey and his attorney Steven S. Biss — who also took part in representing the GOP lawmaker in his suits against CNN, the Washington Post and Twitter — have been told by Judge Richard Bennett of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland that they must pay the “legal fees in a lawsuit they filed against CNN regarding a news story about the California congressman.”

“Judge Richard Bennett of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland dismissed Harvey’s lawsuit in February, finding Harvey had failed to prove any statements were ‘materially false,'” the report states. “Bennett handed down sanctions against Harvey and Biss after they filed an amended complaint seeking to have him reconsider his dismissal of the lawsuit.” Continue reading.

Devin Nunes received a mysterious package from a known Russian agent. Why is he on the House Intel Committee?

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Rep. Devin Nunes of California is the leading Republican on the House Intelligence Committee. And MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow is wondering why the far-right congressman still has that position in light of his connection to Andrii Derkach, a Russian agent and ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Maddow, during her March 18 broadcast, noted that Derkach is one of the Russian agents named in a National Intelligence Council report on Russian interference in the United States’ 2020 presidential election. The MSNBC host pointed out that according to the report, Derkach was “under the purview of Russian President Vladimir Putin” as part of Kremlin efforts to help former President Donald Trump win reelection and defeat now-President Joe Biden.

Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee, Maddow explained, learned that “Derkach had mailed a stack of unknown materials to a Republican congressman named Devin Nunes, who is the top Republican on the Intelligence Committee to his day.” Continue reading.

Kremlin Assets Aided Pro-Trump 2020 Documentary Featuring Caputo, Nunes

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Russian government proxies “helped produce a documentary that aired on a US television network” as part of the Kremlin’s wide-ranging effort to influence the 2020 presidential election by falsely accusing President Joe Biden of corruption in Ukraine, the U.S. intelligence community revealed in a report Tuesday. 

The report does not explicitly identify the documentary or network in question. But the timeline and subject matter match The Ukraine Hoax: Impeachment, Biden Cash, and Mass Murder, which the pro-Trump One America News Network aired in late January 2020. Former Trump aide Michael Caputo hosted that one-hour special, which featured separate interviews with a former Ukrainian official later sanctioned by the federal government for his role in a Russian influence operation and with Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), at the time the chair of the House Intelligence Committee.

According to the report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized Russian influence operations aimed at undermining Biden’s campaign and supporting then-President Donald Trump during the 2020 election cycle. The report assesses that Russian intelligence services and their Ukraine-linked proxies — including “Russian influence agent” Konstantin Kilimnik and Ukrainian legislator Andriy Derkach — sought to use U.S. media outlets and prominent Americans to launder allegations of corrupt ties between Biden, his family, and Ukraine, and to falsely accuse Ukraine of interfering in the 2016 presidential election. Continue reading.

Devin Nunes complains that Republicans are being censored — while talking to about 1.5m viewers

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Devin Nunes, a man who has sued Twitter to stop freedom of speech, went on Fox News Sunday to tell the world that Republicans—like Devin Nunes—have lost their freedom to communicate with one another. He said this on Maria Bartiromo’s Sunday Fox news show that is watched by around 1.5 million people every week. Nunes is specifically talking about Parler, the right-wing alternative social media site that Nunes was an early devotee of. At the end of last week, Twitter, Facebook, Apple, Google, and others shut down Trump’s social media accounts. Trump is still the president of the United States and has all kinds of avenues from which he could shriek his brand of narcissistic bigotry, but for many conservatives, this was the last straw in the war against conservatism. 

Nunes tells viewers that there is “no longer a free and open social media company of site for any American to get on any longer.” The power-abusing Nunes, a man who may have used his position on the House Intelligence Committee to investigate political opponents like Hillary Clinton using super dubious actors like Giuliani associate Lev Parnas wants you to know that he’s lost 3 million followers on Parler. Saying that this act is “clearly a violation of antitrust, civil rights, the rico statue,” Nunes called on the government to open “a racketeering investigation on all the people who coordinated this attack on not only a company but on all of those like us, like me, like you, Maria.”

The next best part of this push for Parler as the true right-wing conservative Republican utopia of freedom of speech is this tremendous statement by Nunes: “Unlike the fake social media sites, we know that everybody that’s on Parler, because you get certified. it’s actually a very safe platform and if you break the law on Parler, the FBI can subpoena to find out who those people are.” This is an interesting point coming from the Second Amendment touting, the-government-is-trying-to-register-everybody-with-a-microchip-and-arrest-you conservative. It’s almost like his whole ideology is bullshit and he’s mostly just stressed out that whatever revenue he was pulling in from his Parler successes has been cut down. Continue reading.

Internet erupts after Devin Nunes awarded the Medal of Freedom for ‘thwarting a plot to take down’ the president

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President Donald Trump, according to CNN’s Kaitlin Collins, has chosen Rep. Devin Nunes of California to receive the Medal of Freedom — and Collins describes Trump’s reasons for picking the far-right conspiracy theorist as a “doozy.” 

According to an official statement from the Trump White House, Nunes’ “courageous actions helped thwart a plot to take down a sitting United States president. He also forced the disclosure of documents that proved that a corrupt senior FBI official pursued a vindictive persecution of Gen. Michael Flynn — even after rank and file FBI agents found no evidence of wrongdoing.”

Here are some of the incredulous reactions that Twitter users have had to what Collins accurately described as a “doozy”: Continue reading.

Trump to give ally Nunes the Presidential Medal of Freedom

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Congressman from California has accused FBI and Justice Department of bias against Trump during Russia probe

President Trump on Monday is expected to give Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, according to someone familiar with the plans.

Nunes is a close ally of the president, and one of Trump’s most vocal supporters in his quest to undermine the Justice Department’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

During an interview with “Fox & Friends” in October 2018, Trump criticized the investigation of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and praised Nunes, then the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, who had repeatedly accused FBI and Justice Department investigators of being biased against Trump. In the Fox News interview, Trump initially — and incorrectly — called for Nunes to receive the Medal of Honor, which is awarded for acts of military valor, before correcting himself and suggesting that Nunes receive the Medal of Freedom. Continue reading.

Devin Nunes Champions ‘Free Speech,’ Gets Scathing Reminder Of His Hypocrisy

The GOP member of Congress raised eyebrows with his rallying cry, given his lawsuit to silence a Twitter parody account that pretends to be his cow.

Rep. Devin Nunes’ (R-Calif.) on Wednesday claimed to be a free-speech champion, but he was quickly reminded he is not.

The GOP lawmaker last year sued Twitter and a series of parody accounts on the platform ― including the @DevinCow profile that pretends to be his cow ― alleging they defamed him.

So, Nunes on Wednesday was called out after urging his 1.1 million followers to ditch “the Twitter sewer” and follow him to the right-wing Parler platform, where users are “living in freedom!” he wrote. Continue reading.

Devin Nunes at ‘dead end’ in legal battle to expose identity of fake Twitter cow: Lawyer

AlterNet logoOn Friday, The Fresno Bee reported that an attorney for Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) says he is at a “dead end” in the legal case to expose the true identity of @DevinCow, a satirical Twitter account that pretends to be a cow belonging to Nunes and continually mocks him.

“Nunes, R-Tulare, filed a lawsuit against Twitter last year alleging he was defamed on Twitter by Republican political strategist Liz Mair and the writers behind anonymous social media accounts that call themselves ‘Devin Nunes’ Cow’ and ‘Devin Nunes’ Mom,’” reported Kate Irby. “Nunes’ attorney and lawyers for Twitter were in court on the social media company’s motion to dismiss the case. The San Francisco-based company argues it is protected from lawsuits like Nunes’ under a federal law that says social media companies like Twitter are not liable for what people post on their platforms if they don’t have a hand in creating the content.”

“Nunes’ attorney Steven Biss said that Twitter should not qualify for immunity under the law, known as Section 230, contending it treats Nunes unfairly,” said the report. “‘They’re doing more than allowing Liz Mair, the cow and the mom to post a tweet,’ Biss said. ‘They’re censoring, they’re promoting an anti-Nunes agenda, they’re banning conservative accounts and they’re knowingly encouraging it.’” Continue reading.

GOP’s Devin Nunes once again questions social distancing measures despite repeated warnings from experts

AlterNet logoRep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., argued Tuesday that it was “way overkill” for California to keep schools closed for the rest of the academic year in order to combat the spread of the new coronavirus.

Nunes, who previously urged Americans to go out to their local restaurants and pubs amid the pandemic, argued that schools should reopen within weeks rather than months during an appearance on Fox News.

“The schools were just canceled out here in California, which is way overkill,” Nunes said. “I mean, it’s possible the kids could have went back to school in two weeks, four weeks. But they just canceled the rest of the schools.” Continue reading.