A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by former Rep. Devin Nunes against MSNBC news host Rachel Maddow in 2021, The Hill reported Monday.
U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel ruled that Nunes, a California Republican and longtime ally of President Donald Trump, failed to prove Maddow and her colleagues at the network acted with malice while talking about a package Nunes received addressed to him from Andrii Derkach, a Ukrainian legislator with connections to Russian officials and intelligence services, while Nunes was the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee.
Castel wrote that "the court concludes that no reasonable jury could find that NBCUniversal [which owns MSNBC] made the statement with constitutionall defined actual malice."
Nunes, who since leaving Congress became CEO of Trump's Truth Social, sued Maddow alleging that she and the network "harbor an institutional hostility, hatred, extreme bias, spite and ill-will" toward the Republican.
The suit specifically cites statements made by Maddow on her show on March 18, 2021, in which she suggested that Nunes refused to turn over a package he reportedly received from Derkach to the FBI.
Castel ruled three years ago that Nunes' case could proceed, writing that his attorneys had "plausibly alleged actual malice" but did not make a determination about the merits of his claim against the network.
Maddow has for years criticized Trump, who has attacked the network's coverage of his administration.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.