FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 22, 2019

Contact: Daniel Stevens, dstevens@campaignforaccountability.org, 202.780.5750

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Campaign for Accountability (CfA), a nonprofit watchdog group focused on public accountability, filed a motion in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia seeking to dismiss a frivolous and nonsensical lawsuit filed against CfA by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA).

Click here to read CfA’s court filing.

On September 4, 2019, Rep. Nunes, the Ranking Member of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee, filed a lawsuit alleging, among other things, that CfA was involved in a racketeering conspiracy stemming from CfA filing three ethics complaints against him.  This is one of five lawsuits Rep. Nunes has filed against his critics, which include two media organizations, a political consultant, Twitter, and a Twitter account belonging to a cow.

Click here to read the ethics complaints CfA filed against Devin Nunes.

The motion reads, in part:

Masquerading an untimely defamation claim as an infirm RICO case, [Rep. Nunes] has sought to criminalize lawful conduct….[Rep. Nunes] seeks to deny the public their protected First Amendment right to file a complaint with OCE – an institution created by and hosted within the House of Representatives and that was heralded as a way to “open the ethics process up to the participation of our fellow citizens”  to make Congress “more accountable to . . . the American people.”

CfA Executive Director Daniel E. Stevens said:

The allegations in this lawsuit are patently frivolous.  The idea that a law intended to root out mob activity could be manipulated to target a government watchdog group for filing ethics complaints is absurd.

Attempts by Nunes to stifle critics through well-funded lawsuits is an affront to the First Amendment.  Nunes should not be allowed to abuse his power to force critics to stand silent in the face of his misconduct.  Further, there are legitimate questions as to who is funding these lawsuits since payments to his counsel do not appear in his campaign finance reports.

CfA is confident it will prevail when the court considers these outrageous and unfounded allegations.

Campaign for Accountability is a nonpartisan, nonprofit watchdog organization that uses research, litigation, and aggressive communications to expose misconduct and malfeasance in public life and hold those who act at the expense of the public good accountable for their actions.