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After Rachel Maddow did segments on her MSNBC show talking about Devin Nunes and the Russia scandal, Nunes, who was then a member of Congress, sued Maddow for defamation in 2021.
Instead of doing what so many large media companies and high-priced talents did when Donald Trump sued them for defamation in 2024, Rachel Maddow and NBC/Universal fought the case, and a funny thing happened.
Maddow and NBC won.
Reuters reported:
In a 24-page decision, Castel said Nunes, a longtime supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump, failed to show Maddow was aware of a July 2020 article in Politico saying the FBI had received the package.
The judge found no clear and convincing evidence that Maddow had a “high degree of awareness of probable falsity,” or any evidence that “defendant’s admitted political bias caused defendant to act with a reckless disregard of the truth.”
Nunes’ lawyers and Trump Media did not immediately respond on Monday to requests for comment. Lawyers for NBCUniversal did not immediately respond to similar requests.
There should not have been anything unusual about this outcome. Maddow and NBC did what media companies used to do when faced with bogus defamation lawsuits from subjects of stories.
They fought the case.
