Rep. Devin Nunes Sues Fusion GPS

 

Finally, someone is fighting back against the Trump-Russia hoax. I’m not surprised that the person who’s made this decision is Rep. Devin Nunes. You can review the complaint here. Nunes is suing, “alleging conspiracy to obstruct investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election.”

He discovered the funders of the Steele dossier through his own efforts; many organizations had a hand in this effort. According to the Daily Caller,

The Campaign for Accountability filed complaint against Nunes with the Office of Congressional Ethics. In a Jan. 25, 2018 complaint, CfA accused Nunes of leaking sensitive House Intelligence Committee information about Fusion GPS.

Nunes also made the following claims:

[He] contends that Fusion GPS and Simpson have also retaliated against him for fear that the Republican would submit criminal referrals against Simpson over testimony he gave HPSCI and the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2017.

I laud Nunes’ courage on making this complaint for a number of reasons:

  • He is taking responsibility for holding accountable the organizations who not only tried to slow down the investigations, but in the process were willing to defame him. Not too many people in the political environment are making the protection of their reputation a priority. He may not be successful if he tries to sue governmental bodies, but Fusion GPS should be vulnerable.
  • He sets an example for the many other people who were manipulated and defamed in the Trump-Russia hoax. Although Carter Page and George Papadopoulos didn’t always make the wisest decisions and were clearly self-promoting, they did not deserve to be dragged through the mud by these various organizations. Again, these men may have difficulty in suing for the actions that were taken against them, but they should at least be compensated financially for the attorney fees and the attacks on their reputations.
  • Perhaps Nunes’ actions will provide some incentive for others to sue those involved. Many companies were involved in this debacle and may be ripe for the pickings.
  • The DOJ may take notes that although they may not be willing or able to hold their own accountable, other people will act. I don’t know if these agencies are protected from lawsuits; if anyone can provide insight on the rules and regulations in this regard, I’d appreciate it.

I don’t know how he’s found the financing for what will likely be a long and difficult suit, but I’m glad he did. Thank you, Rep. Devin Nunes, for stepping up and taking action. As he said in the complaint, in part:

Defendants’ corrupt acts of racketeering are part of their regular way of doing business. That way of doing business must end here and now.

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  1. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    Susan Quinn: Thank you, Rep. Devin Nunes, for stepping up and taking action.

    Republicans take note.  Trump is popular because he takes action and gets things done.  Nunes probably realizes Barr isn’t going to do anything, so someone has to take that first step.  Good luck!

    • #1
  2. ctlaw Coolidge
    ctlaw
    @ctlaw

    I think Nunes is playing merely to get past a motion to dismiss.

    Once he gets into discovery, he can do several things. First, he can force production of information that the government may already have but which it is not publicly disclosing. At least some of that information will then become public. Second, he can set up perjury/obstruction traps, etc.

    He almost assuredly is not ultimately going to prevail. And I doubt he gets past a motion to dismiss. In a world where we routinely see reasonable cases against leftism get dismissed, this is the one I have no warm fuzzy feelings about.

    • #2
  3. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    ctlaw (View Comment):

    I think Nunes is playing merely to get past a motion to dismiss.

    Once he gets into discovery, he can do several things. First, he can force production of information that the government may already have but which it is not publicly disclosing. At least some of that information will then become public. Second, he can set up perjury/obstruction traps, etc.

    He almost assuredly is not ultimately going to prevail. And I doubt he gets past a motion to dismiss. In a world where we routinely see reasonable cases against leftism get dismissed, this is the one I have no warm fuzzy feelings about.

    I know. But I can’t help hoping. Thanks so much for weighing in, @ctlaw. You always offer a wealth of information!

    • #3
  4. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    ctlaw (View Comment):
    He almost assuredly is not ultimately going to prevail.

    But if you never try, you’ll never know . . .

    • #4
  5. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    Uphill. 

    I don’t quite get his standing or the nature of the claim but the injustice and the injury for which it seeks redress are quite real.

    In a sane world (not the one where Democrats now celebrate all forms of depravity, journalists think ideology is truth and evangelical Christians man the barricades to expressly defend the manifest behavioral deficits of the President) Glen Simpson would be a pariah.  For pay, he conspired to con millions into believing that the White House has surrendered itself to foreign interests (different foreign interests from the ones to which the Obama White House did in fact surrender ) and bitterly divided the nation, wasted millions of dollars and perverted the course of justice.  He caused Russian disinformation to be used to slander the President of the United States.

    In that fictional sane world, Americans of both parties would stand together calling for Simpson’s hide. 

    • #5
  6. Rodin Member
    Rodin
    @Rodin

    Whether we like it or not, in a democratic republic the “court of public opinion” and not the judiciary is the court of last resort. The judiciary is a tool of the democratic republic to ensure equal justice under the law, but it will not function in an environment in which public opinion does not make it so. (Judges are appointed by and may be removed from office by persons placed in position to do so by elections. When that stops, so does our republic.)

    Nunes recognizes (because he has been contending with the media for the past 3 years) that he can only rally public opinion by taking public acts. As he is no longer the chair of the committee (that now wants to do exactly the opposite of what the evidence is showing) he needs to find ways to garner public focus. This lawsuit is one of them. There needs to be more of them and we need to find ways for common sense Americans who see what is happening to have their voices heard — not just at the ballot box that is months away.

    • #6
  7. Clifford A. Brown Member
    Clifford A. Brown
    @CliffordBrown

    Rodin (View Comment):

    Whether we like it or not, in a democratic republic the “court of public opinion” and not the judiciary is the court of last resort. The judiciary is a tool of the democratic republic to ensure equal justice under the law, but it will not function in an environment in which public opinion does not make it so. (Judges are appointed by and may be removed from office by persons placed in position to do so by elections. When that stops, so does our republic.)

    Nunes recognizes (because he has been contending with the media for the past 3 years) that he can only rally public opinion by taking public acts. As he is no longer the chair of the committee (that now wants to do exactly the opposite of what the evidence is showing) he needs to find ways to garner public focus. This lawsuit is one of them. There needs to be more of them and we need to find ways for common sense Americans who see what is happening to have their voices heard — not just at the ballot box that is months away.

    Well said.

    • #7
  8. Clifford A. Brown Member
    Clifford A. Brown
    @CliffordBrown

    ctlaw (View Comment):

    I think Nunes is playing merely to get past a motion to dismiss.

    Once he gets into discovery, he can do several things. First, he can force production of information that the government may already have but which it is not publicly disclosing. At least some of that information will then become public. Second, he can set up perjury/obstruction traps, etc.

    He almost assuredly is not ultimately going to prevail. And I doubt he gets past a motion to dismiss. In a world where we routinely see reasonable cases against leftism get dismissed, this is the one I have no warm fuzzy feelings about.

    Nailed it.

    • #8
  9. Unsk Member
    Unsk
    @Unsk

    All good comments. It would be great if Nunes could get to discovery. It is starting to look like Barr is the same old, same old Deep State  protector of the bureaucracy first, protector of the Rule of Law and the People last. 

    Barr should be hounded for the rest of his life if he doesn’t step up and do the right thing.  Far too little has come out. Declass was months and months ago. 

    • #9
  10. CarolJoy, Above Top Secret Coolidge
    CarolJoy, Above Top Secret
    @CarolJoy

    Thanks, Susan.

    Such very notable information coming out this week. With Nunes suing Fusion, and Sydney Powell going “totally  ape”over the various hands contributing to corruption at the alphabet agencies, so that we might see significant change soon.

    From illicitinfo.com: Powell has filed a scorching 19-page brief with Judge Emmet Sullivan in support of a motion to compel production of the Brady material in which she outlines the history of how the FBI/DOJ was weaponized to destroy him solely to get at President Trump.

    I am so happy to see these developments. (And I bet Gen Mike Flynn is happy too.)

    • #10
  11. Rodin Member
    Rodin
    @Rodin

    Unsk (View Comment):

    All good comments. It would be great if Nunes could get to discovery. It is starting to look like Barr is the same old, same old Deep State protector of the bureaucracy first, protector of the Rule of Law and the People last.

    Barr should be hounded for the rest of his life if he doesn’t step up and do the right thing. Far too little has come out. Declass was months and months ago.

    Important part in your comment is “if he doesn’t step up and do the right thing.” I am holding judgement on whether Barr will do so. I thought the comments by Kimberly Strassel on the Ricochet podcast today were pertinent: Comey did a pretty clever job of making a prosecution difficult by not providing his notes for classification review before leaving so that they were determined to be classified only after the fact. That, and his public relations campaign and home field advantage with a DC jury, made conviction doubtful. Barr would not cover himself with glory by bringing a charge and losing, particularly when there is so much more to be disclosed.

    On the Declass points: Yes, Barr was given authority by the President months ago to declassify anything he deemed appropriate. Barr may have declassified it without publishing it. Why not publicize? The declassified materials may (likely are) a part of the Durham investigation and will be publicized when Durham is done with the investigatory phase. At least I am holding out hope that that is true.

    • #11
  12. Goldwaterwoman Thatcher
    Goldwaterwoman
    @goldwaterwoman

    Unsk (View Comment):
    All good comments. It would be great if Nunes could get to discovery. It is starting to look like Barr is the same old, same old Deep State protector of the bureaucracy first, protector of the Rule of Law and the People last. 

     I have felt all along that the DOJ will protect its own regardless of who the AG is. If anything solid comes of  the entire investigation into the origins of the Trump/Russia hoax, I’ll be delightfully surprised. It’s a complicated case with many players, and there are few among us who have had the patience to dig deep enough to follow the whole story.  Instead,we are left with a nation addicted to soundbites and legions of the empty headed who don’t care. 

    • #12
  13. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Rodin (View Comment):
    That, and his public relations campaign and home field advantage with a DC jury, made conviction doubtful.

    Another reason govt agencies need to be distributed around the country, and should not all be in the same judicial jurisdiction

    • #13
  14. Clifford A. Brown Member
    Clifford A. Brown
    @CliffordBrown

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    Rodin (View Comment):
    That, and his public relations campaign and home field advantage with a DC jury, made conviction doubtful.

    Another reason govt agencies need to be distributed around the country, and should not all be in the same judicial jurisdiction

    There is always the change of venue maneuver, in which one side asserts that it is impossible to get a fair trial in this geographic area, so move the trial to a fair-minded community. In this case, any jury trial should be conducted in a balanced district, roughly 50/50 in the past two elections.

    • #14
  15. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Clifford A. Brown (View Comment):

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    Rodin (View Comment):
    That, and his public relations campaign and home field advantage with a DC jury, made conviction doubtful.

    Another reason govt agencies need to be distributed around the country, and should not all be in the same judicial jurisdiction

    There is always the change of venue maneuver, in which one side asserts that it is impossible to get a fair trial in this geographic area, so move the trial to a fair-minded community. In this case, any jury trial should be conducted in a balanced district, roughly 50/50 in the past two elections.

    But that’s a request the defense can make, isn’t it? Can the prosecution make such a assertion?  

    • #15
  16. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    Clifford A. Brown (View Comment):

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    Rodin (View Comment):
    That, and his public relations campaign and home field advantage with a DC jury, made conviction doubtful.

    Another reason govt agencies need to be distributed around the country, and should not all be in the same judicial jurisdiction

    There is always the change of venue maneuver, in which one side asserts that it is impossible to get a fair trial in this geographic area, so move the trial to a fair-minded community. In this case, any jury trial should be conducted in a balanced district, roughly 50/50 in the past two elections.

    But that’s a request the defense can make, isn’t it? Can the prosecution make such a assertion?

    Political bias of DC juries is officially invisible especially if the court largely shares the same viewpoint. Importance of DC as a venue helps us to understand why Harry Reid was willing to blow up Senate traditions and processes to make sure the appellate court for the DC district was packed with political allies. Even if a GOP president gets to appoint all the prosecutors (US atty is the DA in DC) or top tier law firms argue for non-leftist civil litigants, by design the left has made it as uphill as possible.

    • #16
  17. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    I think we have to assume the Left will always make it difficult for us. If you bang against a brick wall long enough (especially if it has a weak foundation), it might just give way, @oldbathos!

    • #17
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