Fogbow

A federal judge this week sanctioned a senior aide to Rep. Devin Nunes and his attorney, ordering them to pay legal fees in a lawsuit they filed against CNN regarding a news story about the California congressman.

The attorney facing sanctions, Steven S. Biss, has also represented Nunes in lawsuits against CNN, The Washington Post, McClatchy and Twitter, among others.

Derek Harvey, a retired Army colonel and a senior aide to Nunes, filed the lawsuit against CNN, alleging the network had defamed him in an article it published concerning the first impeachment of former President Donald Trump.

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.”

A federal judge on Wednesday rejected Rep. Devin Nunes’ lawsuit against Fusion GPS, the investigative research firm that in 2016 produced a dossier of intelligence leads related to former President Donald Trump.

It’s the second time a federal judge has thrown out the case, which centers on Nunes’ allegation that the firm sought to damage his reputation and hinder his ability to investigate its work leading up to Trump’s election.

Nunes filed an amended complaint after Judge Liam O’Grady dismissed the case in February 2020, which allowed it to continue.

The new ruling by Judge Rossie Alston of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia bars Nunes from filing another amended complaint. Alston was ruling on the third amended complaint Nunes and attorney Steven S. Biss had filed.

Opinion: How Kash Patel rose from obscure Hill staffer to key operative in Trump’s battle with the intelligence community

Devin Nunes’s Attorney Sanctioned, Ordered to Pay CNN $21,000 For Filing ‘Frivolous’ Defamation Lawsuit
JERRY LAMBE May 6th, 2021, 1:00 pm

A federal judge in Maryland this week followed through on a previous warning to sanction a lawyer best known for representing Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) in a series of failed defamation lawsuits against media companies, saying the lawyer’s latest case against CNN was “frivolous” in nature. U.S. District Judge Richard Bennet, an appointee of George W. Bush, ruled that attorney Steve Biss had “unreasonably and vexatiously” attempted to continue litigating a lawsuit against the news network after the case had already been dismissed with prejudice for failing to state a claim in March. Despite that ruling, Biss filed an amended complaint that the court went on to describe as “nothing more than a repetition of the original complaint with no new material factual allegations.”

The original complaint — filed on behalf of Nunes’s senior aide Derek Harvey against CNN, former Rudy Giuliani business associate Lev Parnas, and Parnas’s attorney Joseph Bondy — stemmed from a November 2020 CNN report that said Parnas was prepared to provide Congress with testimony in connection with Donald Trump’s first impeachment proceeding. CNN reported that Parnas would testify, in effect, that Nunes met with former Ukrainian prosecutor Victor Shokin “to discuss digging up dirt of Joe Biden.” In the initial complaint, Harvey alleged that the defendants falsely accused him of participating in an effort to aid and abet the commission of criminal, unethical, and dishonest conduct. He sought punitive damages and an order prohibiting the defendants from continuing to repeat false claims on the basis that they constituted defamation and false light invasion of privacy.

Harvey and Biss initially argued that CNN made 20 defamatory statements, but later filed an amended complaint that narrowed that number down to five. However, Judge Bennet concluded that even the trimmed down complaint contained the same “manifest deficiencies” regarding the statements in question which lacked “defamatory meaning” and failed to “plausibly allege material falsity” and “actual malice.” “This Court determined Harvey and his counsel engaged in bad faith conduct in filing the last-minute Amended Complaint in this case, joining a ‘chorus’ of courts sanctioning one of the Plaintiff’s attorneys, Steven Biss,” the ruling stated. Judge Bennet concluded that CNN’s request for $21,437 in attorney’s fees was reasonable under the circumstances.

“As this Court explained in its Memorandum Opinions dismissing both the original Complaint and ultimately the Amended Complaint, this case involves the allegations of a public official seeking to collect damages from a news organization for its coverage of the first impeachment of former President Donald J. Trump,” Bennet wrote. “In filing the Motion to Dismiss the Amended Complaint, CNN’s counsel thoroughly established that, despite the Plaintiff’s amendments to the original Complaint, the remaining five allegedly defamatory statements failed to meet each of the requirements of a defamation claim.” Bennet in February had said Harvey’s case “closely parrots” allegations in federal lawsuits that Biss filed on Nunes’ behalf. Biss was previously sanctioned by the Virginia State Bar and suspended from practicing law for one year in 2008 for “a deliberately wrongful act that reflects adversely on his fitness to practice law.” Biss did not immediately respond to a request for comment. If he provides a response, we will update this report.

‘We Are At An Existential Crossroads’: Republican Leaders Gather For Nunes Freedom Festival




(Photo: Roger Jerkovich, special to The Daily Caller)
KATIE JERKOVICH ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER May 08, 2021 8:48 PM ET

Republican California Rep. Devin Nunes held his first annual Nunes Freedom Festival in California Saturday where speakers discussed the status of the country and the Make America Great agenda. Kash Patel, a former staffer in the Trump administration, called the gathering an opportunity of “bringing together the community to ensure Republican values are heard and not silenced.” Patel, who has a background in national security, talked to The Daily Caller about the status of the country’s security since President Joe Biden was sworn into office.

“America deserves a national security strategy that’s better than ‘what did the last guy do. I’m going to do the opposite,’ which seems to be the Joe Biden approach and that fails in Iran, Russia, China, Middle East,” Kash explained. “Fails in counterterrorism, fails in counterintelligence.” Harmeet Dhillon, an attorney and national committeewoman for the Republican National Committee, told the Caller the Nunes event was about “celebrating freedom.” “We are gathering with other patriots and we are getting ready to take on the Democrats in the next election cycle,” Dhillon shared, before noting how Biden has “driven this country into the ground faster” than she thought he would. She also talked about the “disease” of socialism that’s attacking the “very fiber” of American constitutional principles. “Our country is effectively being run by Nancy Pelosi,” Dhillon said. “It isn’t even, as I feared Kamala Harris, I think she’s really just floating around the scenery. But it’s the far left socialist.”

Republican Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs talked to the group about hi-tech censorship. “We are at an existential crossroads in this country, and we have to get it back to fundamental notion of what our rights are,” Biggs said. “They come from God they don’t come from the government.” “And we have to fight every step of the way,” he added. “The Democrats and the left they never take a day off, they are always fighting and we have to respond. And we not only have to respond, we have to change the narrative.” Amanda Milius, a former member of the Trump administration and director of the 2020 documentary “The Plot Against The President,” talked to us about her film and how she hopes it can educate people how the left creates hoaxes. “Something that Lee Smith and Kash [Patel] and I have all been talking about recently is how the Russiagate hoax remains relevant because it’s the blueprint for how they do hoaxes, ” Milius shared. “It’s the same game plan.”

Lee Smith, author of “The Plot Against the President,” called the event a chance to “remind people that the America first movement, the America forward movement it exists.” “It’s not just about Donald Trump,” he added. “It’s the American public.” Donald Trump Jr. even made an appearance via video, saying the former president was doing great and talked about continuing to fight for the America first agenda.

woodworker wrote: ↑Sun May 09, 2021 1:49 pm How much were attendees paid? Sortof off-topic, I ran into an anti-masker and I asked him how much he was being paid. When he said "nothing" I said, that's weird, several other anti-maskers told me they were getting $40 an hour. Pissed him off bigly. I do what I can.

filly wrote: ↑Mon May 17, 2021 4:14 pm I would like to know that DC Federal District Judge Signed the Gag Order in the first place?

btw, nice to see Nunes stymied by the evil

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Kidding aside, the AUSA who filed this nonsense should lose their ability to practice in DC.

noblepa wrote: ↑Mon May 17, 2021 8:54 pm

filly wrote: ↑Mon May 17, 2021 4:14 pm I would like to know that DC Federal District Judge Signed the Gag Order in the first place?

btw, nice to see Nunes stymied by the evil

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Kidding aside, the AUSA who filed this nonsense should lose their ability to practice in DC.

We don't know, of course, but the order to file that motion may have come directly from Wm. Barr(f), who, in turn was simply obeying the orangester's orders.

If so, the AUSA was between a rock and a hard place. File a frivolous motion or find another job.

MINUTE ORDER (paperless) GRANTING petitioner's 5 Unopposed Motion to Unseal Pleadings; DIRECTING the Clerk of the Court to UNSEAL this case and to UNSEAL the following docket entry: petitioner's 3 Motion to Quash Subpoena and Vacate Nondisclosure Order, and the declaration and exhibit attached thereto; MAINTAINING UNDER SEAL the following docket entry: the government's 4 Memorandum in Opposition; and DIRECTING the government to file on the docket, by May 19, 2021, a public version of its 4 Memorandum in Opposition, with the name and contact information of the government attorney redacted. Signed by Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell on May 16, 2021. Counsel have NOT been notified.(lcbah1) (Entered: 05/16/2021)

jcolvin2 wrote: ↑Tue May 18, 2021 12:49 am Magistrate Judge Lloret granted the original government motion to seal in November of 2020. On May 16, 2001, Chief Judge Beryl Howell ordered most of the docket entries unsealed, and directed the government to file a public version of its Memorandum in Opposition by May 19, but is allowing the name and contact info of the government attorney to remain redacted:

MINUTE ORDER (paperless) GRANTING petitioner's 5 Unopposed Motion to Unseal Pleadings; DIRECTING the Clerk of the Court to UNSEAL this case and to UNSEAL the following docket entry: petitioner's 3 Motion to Quash Subpoena and Vacate Nondisclosure Order, and the declaration and exhibit attached thereto; MAINTAINING UNDER SEAL the following docket entry: the government's 4 Memorandum in Opposition; and DIRECTING the government to file on the docket, by May 19, 2021, a public version of its 4 Memorandum in Opposition, with the name and contact information of the government attorney redacted. Signed by Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell on May 16, 2021. Counsel have NOT been notified.(lcbah1) (Entered: 05/16/2021)

Is Judge Howell worried that Devin Nunes' Cow's Twitter followers will stampede the poor AUSA? If so, someone steered her astray. The parody account and its followers are a cut above that.

This matter having come before the Court pursuant to an application under 18 U.S.C. § 2705(b) requesting an order directing Twitter, Inc. (“PROVIDER”), an electronic communication and/or remote computing service provider located in San Francisco, California, not to notify any other person of the existence of subpoena number GJ2020111968168 issued by the United States on behalf of a federal Grand Jury empanelled in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (the “Subpoena”), the Court finds reasonable grounds to believe that such disclosure will result in flight from prosecution, destruction of or tampering with evidence, intimidation of potential witnesses, and serious jeopardy to the investigation.

IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 2705(b), PROVIDER and
its employees shall not disclose the existence of the Subpoena to any other person (except attorneys for PROVIDER for the purpose of receiving legal advice) for a period of 90 days (commencing on the date of this Order), unless the period of nondisclosure is later modified by the Court.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the application and this Order are sealed until otherwise ordered by the Court.

Estiveo wrote: ↑Tue May 18, 2021 1:12 pm I note that people seem to think this was an attempt to unmask Devin Nunes' Cow. It was not. NunesAlt is the Devin's Mom account.

Had it been successful, I'm sure the cow would have been next.

Moo.