Federal Court Dismisses Nunes' Defamation Lawsuit Against MSNBC's Maddow

A federal court has dismissed a defamation lawsuit brought by Devin Nunes, the former congressman and CEO of Trump Media, against NBCUniversal concerning comments made by MSNBC's Rachel Maddow. The lawsuit stemmed from Maddow's March 2021 segment, where she stated that Nunes refused to hand over a package received in 2019 from Ukrainian politician Andrii Derkach—linked to Russian intelligence—to the FBI, suggesting he was acting suspiciously. Nunes contended that this was false and that he had reported the package to federal authorities, accusing Maddow of knowingly spreading false information. However, Judge Kevin Castel ruled that Nunes failed to demonstrate Maddow acted with actual malice—a legal requirement for public figures in defamation cases—finding no evidence that Maddow was aware of relevant information or acted recklessly. Derkach, sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in 2020 for election interference attempts and charged in 2022 with financial crimes, remains at large. Neither Nunes, Trump Media, nor NBCUniversal have issued public statements following the decision.