Devin Nunes sues CNN (again) and Jake Tapper for defamation. Here’s what he claims

Former Congressman Devin Nunes has filed another lawsuit against CNN, this one over statements that one of its anchors, Jake Tapper, made about Republican reaction to the attack on Paul Pelosi.

Nunes, 49, is suing the news organization and Tapper over comments on his Oct. 31 show that conservative figures proliferated conspiracy theories about Pelosi’s connection to his attacker.

The former congressman’s complaint points to five sets of statements, one of which mentions the California Republican directly.

All concern a conspiracy theory that Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and his attacker David DePape were in a sexual relationship.

Paul Pelosi, 82, did not know DePape, 42, before he broke into the Pelosi’s San Francisco home in October. DePape said he was searching for the speaker, who was not in San Francisco at the time, intending to hold her hostage and break her kneecaps if she “lied,” according to a federal criminal complaint against him.

DePape hit Paul Pelosi with a hammer before police intervened. Pelosi suffered a skull fracture and injuries to his right arm and hands that required surgery and kept him in the hospital for almost a week.

On Truth Social — former President Donald Trump’s social media company that Nunes left Congress to join as chief executive— Tapper said that Nunes “shared this Halloween image with the words, ‘at least this guy has his clothes on.’ Nunes also reposted this meme using a poster for the gay romantic comedy Bros, twisting it into a smear of Paul Pelosi. And, again, the man who tried to bash Paul Pelosi’s head in with a hammer. Words fail.”

Another of Tapper’s comments that Nunes’ lawyers pulled out is simply, “What is wrong with these people?”

Tapper, who normally anchors “The Lead,” had been doing a prime-time show leading up to this year’s midterms.

Nunes’ claims

Nunes’ lawyers wrote that the “clear defamatory gist” was Tapper implied the former congressman “refused to condemn the violent attack on Paul Pelosi, and, instead, justified the violence and mocked or made fun of the attack, and lied and suggested that the encounter between Mr. Pelosi and Mr. DePape was sexual in nature.” They said Tapper insinuated that Nunes “has a depraved mind and that he acted immorally, fraudulently, unprofessionally, spread lies about Paul Pelosi, and disparaged and defamed Paul Pelosi.”

They allege that because of “juxtaposition and omission of material facts, the Statements make him appear odious and ridiculous” and opened Nunes up to hate from CNN’s viewers and online followers.

The Republican claimed that CNN and Tapper made the statements with actual malice, the standard public figures must meet to collect damages in defamation lawsuits. To show actual malice, Nunes must prove that CNN and Tapper made the statements while knowing they were false or with reckless disregard as to whether they were true.

Prior to Tapper’s show, per Nunes’ complaint, a lawyer for Trump’s media company responded to CNN’s inquiry and said that Nunes condemned the attack on Pelosi in a Newsmax interview and linked to it in the email.

Nunes had also texted Tapper, according to the complaint, that “if you were on Truth you would already know that I’ve condemned the attack. Any implication otherwise is knowingly false and defamatory.”

Additionally, Nunes’ lawyers claimed that resharing a social media post, as Nunes did in Tapper’s second example, was not an endorsement of the meme.

Nunes, who represented the area around Tulare and Fresno for almost a decade, filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida on Nov. 19.

Neither of Nunes’ attorneys, Jason Kobal and Steven Biss, responded to a request for comment. A spokesperson for CNN declined to comment.

Judge dismissed first case against CNN

This is the second time the Tulare native has sued CNN. Last spring, a panel of judges denied his appeal to reopen the case over a 2019 report that the California Republican went to Vienna to gather political dirt on President Joe Biden.

Since 2019, the former congressman has filed 11 lawsuits against media organizations and people he claims have defamed or conspired to harm his reputation. Judges have dismissed many of these; Nunes has dropped some.

This week, a New York judge said that Nunes could sue MSNBC’s parent company. He is also suing The Washington Post and a magazine and journalist who wrote about his family’s Iowa dairy farm.