A federal judge dismissed Devin Nunes's defamation lawsuit against Rachel Maddow and NBCUniversal, ruling that the network did not act with "actual malice" in its reporting. U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel granted a summary judgment stating that "no reasonable jury could find that NBCU made the statement with constitutionally-defined actual malice." Nunes had claimed that Maddow's assertion about his handling of a package from a Russian agent was defamatory, but the court concluded he failed to meet the burden of proof required for public figures in such cases.
In a 24-page opinion issued Friday, U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel granted summary judgment to NBCUniversal, writing that "no reasonable jury could find that NBCU made the statement with constitutionally-defined actual malice."
Nunes, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump and chief executive officer of his social media company, filed the lawsuit in 2021 after an episode aired a segment about a package addressed to Nunes from Ukrainian legislator Andrii Derkach.
Maddow told viewers that Nunes "has refused to hand [the package] 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," relying on a news story.
The court acknowledged that Nunes disputed the truth of Maddow's statement but said he failed to meet the high burden required of public figures in defamation cases.
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