Trump-appointed judges shut down Devin Nunes’ defamation case against CNN

A panel of federal judges has shut down former Rep. Devin Nunes’ lawsuit against CNN, saying he did not request a retraction of a false article in accordance with state law.

In a 2-1 ruling last week, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Trump ally did not request a retraction of the allegedly defamatory story published and broadcast by CNN in accordance with California law, where he is a resident.

“Under that state’s law, Nunes failed to comply with ’the statutory notice and retraction demand requirements’ of California’s ’retraction statute,’ thus limiting his recovery to special damages,” Judge William Nardini, a Trump appointee, wrote.  

He was joined in the decision by Judge Michael Park, another Trump appointee. Judge Steven Menashi, also appointed to the appeals court by Mr. Trump, disagreed.

In his dissent, Judge Menashi said when weighing defamation from a national broadcast, it’s not adequate to apply California law.

“The place of the wrong in a defamation case is where the defamatory statement was published, meaning the place in which a third party first receives it. With a nationwide broadcast, it is not possible to identify one such place,” he wrote.

The majority applied California law, reasoning that’s where Mr. Nunes resides and where he likely would receive the most damage to his reputation.

The case involved a 2019 article by CNN, claiming Mr. Nunes went to Vienna and met with Ukrainian Prosecutor Victor Shokin to “discuss digging up dirt on Joe Biden,” who eventually became the Democratic presidential nominee running against Mr. Trump.

But in his lawsuit, lawyers for Mr. Nunes said he never traveled to Vienna as described in the article and he’s never met Mr. Shokin.

His case was dismissed with prejudice, meaning he cannot refile the suit.

A lawyer for Mr. Nunes did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mr. Nunes represented California’s 21st and 22nd District in Congress for nearly two decades before joining Trump Media & Technology Group as its chief executive officer.