By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) -A federal judge dismissed a defamation lawsuit by Devin Nunes, the former California congressman and now chief executive of Trump Media and Technology Group, against NBCUniversal over a comment by Rachel Maddow about his dealings with a suspected Russian agent.
U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel in Manhattan ruled on Friday that no reasonable jury could find Maddow demonstrated actual malice toward Nunes in March 2021 when discussing a package addressed to him from pro-Russia Ukrainian legislator Andrii Derkach on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show.”
Nunes received the package in December 2019, when the Republican was the ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
Maddow told viewers that Nunes “refused to hand it over to the FBI, which is what you should do if you get something from somebody who is sanctioned by the U.S. as a Russian agent.”
Nunes said Maddow knew the package was turned over promptly. She and her executive producer, who were not defendants, claimed to rely on other sources when creating the segment. NBCUniversal is a unit of Comcast.
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.
The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Derkach in September 2020 for trying to interfere in that year’s U.S. presidential election to help Trump, who lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York charged Derkach in December 2022 with unrelated money laundering and sanctions violations. He remains at large.
The case is Nunes v NBCUniversal Media Inc, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 22-01633.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New YorkEditing by Nick Zieminski)
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