VIRGINIA:

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF ALBEMARLE

DEVIN G. NUNES )
)
Plaintiffs, )
)
v. ) Case No.
)
) TRIAL BY JURY
THE MCCLATCHY COMPANY ) IS DEMANDED
ELIZABETH A. “LIZ” MAIR, )
)
-and- )
)
MAIR STRATEGIES, LLC )
)
Defendants. )
)

COMPLAINT
Plaintiff, Devin G. Nunes, by counsel, files the following Complaint against

defendants, The McClatchy Company (“McClatchy”), Elizabeth A. “Liz” Mair (“Mair”),

and Mair Strategies, LLC (“Mair Strategies”), jointly and severally.

Plaintiff seeks (a) compensatory damages and punitive damages in an amount not

less than $150,000,000, (b) prejudgment interest on the principal sum awarded by the

Jury from May 23, 2018 to the date of Judgment at the rate of six percent (6%) per year

pursuant to § 8.01-382 of the Virginia Code (1950), as amended (the “Code”), injunctive

relief, and (d) court costs – arising out of defendants’ defamation per se and common law

conspiracy.

1
 I. INTRODUCTION

1. This is a case about character assassination and a public company that

weaponized its powerful pen and used it as a terrible sword.

2. Throughout 2018, McClatchy and its reporter, MacKenzie Mays, acting in

concert with a Virginia political operative and her handlers, schemed to defame Plaintiff

and destroy his reputation. The central purpose of the scheme was to interfere with

Plaintiff’s Congressional investigation of corruption by the Clinton campaign and alleged

“collusion” between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential

election. 1 Using the enormous power of McClatchy’s nation-wide resources, McClatchy

1
McClatchy is well-known for publishing false stories meant to advance the
false narrative that associates of Donald J. Trump colluded with Russia to hack the 2016
presidential election. In April 2018, for instance, McClatchy published an article
representing that Justice Department Special Counsel Robert Mueller had evidence that
Donald Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, secretly visited Prague during the 2016
presidential campaign. [https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-
house/article208870264.html (“Mueller Has Evidence Cohen Was In Prague In 2016,
Confirming Part Of Dossier”)]. The McClatchy story was presented as confirmation of
an essential claim of the “Steele dossier” (a collection of allegations of collusion between
Trump associates and Russia that were manufactured by a former British spy,
Christopher Steele, cited in the most prominent accusations against the President’s team).
According to the Steele dossier, Cohen was a leading figure in the Trump-Russia
collusion/conspiracy. The dossier represents that Cohen went to Prague in 2016 to have a
conspiratorial meeting with Russian officials about the Kremlin’s campaign to hack the
2016 U.S. presidential election. McClatchy’s story about Cohen was not confirmed by
any other media outlet, and Mueller’s indictment of Cohen did not allege Cohen had this
meeting in Prague or that he conspired with Russians at all to hack the U.S. election.
McClatchy further attempted to defend the dossier’s veracity with a follow-up piece
claiming Cohen’s cell phone had sent signals off cell towers in the Prague vicinity.
[https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/investigations/article219016820.html (“Cell signal
puts Cohen outside Prague around time of purported Russian meeting”)]. Once again, no
other media outlet could confirm the McClatchy story, which, like the previous story, was
thoroughly contradicted by both Mueller’s Cohen indictment and Mueller’s final Report.
[see https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/5779700/AG-March-24-2019-Letter-to-
House-and-Senate.pdf (“The Special Counsel’s investigation did not find that the
Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia
in its efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.”)].

2
and its co-conspirators relentlessly attacked Plaintiff both in print and digitally – falsely

and maliciously accusing Plaintiff of horrible crimes and improprieties, falsely attributing

to him knowledge he did not have, implying that he was involved with cocaine and

underage prostitutes, and imputing to Plaintiff dishonesty, unethical behavior, lack of

integrity, and an unfitness to serve as a United States Congressman. Defendants’

statements were knowingly false and grossly offensive. They evince a heedless, palpable

and reckless disregard for the truth.

3. True and honorable journalists serve a vital role in our republic, informing

the American people about crucial matters that affect their lives and the country at large.

The Defendants in this case abandoned the role of journalist, and chose to leverage their

considerable power to spread falsehoods and to defame the Plaintiff for political and

financial gain.

II. PARTIES

4. Plaintiff, Devin G. Nunes (“Nunes” or “Plaintiff”), is a citizen of

California. Born October 1, 1973, Nunes has served in the United States House of

Representatives since 2003. He currently represents California’s 22nd Congressional

District, which is located in the San Joaquin Valley and includes portions of Tulare and

Fresno Counties. He and his wife have three daughters. He is the author of the

book, Restoring the Republic, which was published in September 2010. Nunes was born

in Tulare, California. His family is of Portuguese descent, having emigrated from the

Azores to California. From childhood, he worked on a farm that his family operated in

Tulare County for three generations. Nunes raised cattle as a teenager, used his savings

to begin a harvesting business, and then bought his own farmland with his brother.

3
Nunes graduated from Tulare Union High School. After associate’s work at College of

the Sequoias, Nunes graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where he received a

bachelor’s degree in agricultural business and a master’s degree in agriculture. Nunes

was first elected to public office as one of California’s youngest community college

trustees in state history at the age of 23. As a member of the College of the Sequoias

Board from 1996 to 2002, he was an advocate for distance learning and the expansion of

programs available to high school students. In 2001, he was appointed by President

George W. Bush to serve as California State Director for the United States Department of

Agriculture’s Rural Development section. He left this post to run for California’s 21st

Congressional District and now serves in the 22nd District as a result of redistricting in

2010. Nunes serves as Ranking Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on

Intelligence, having been appointed to the Committee in the 112th Congress and serving

as Committee Chairman during the 114th and 115th Congresses. He was appointed to the

Ways and Means Committee in the 109th Congress and now serves as a Ranking Member

of the Health Subcommittee and a member of the Trade Subcommittee, having served as

Chairman of the Trade Subcommittee in the 113th Congress. Nunes previously served as

a member of the House Budget Committee during the 111th Congress. In the 108th

Congress, his first term in the House of Representatives, he served on the House

Resources Committee, in which he was Chairman of the National Parks Subcommittee,

and on the Agriculture and Veterans Affairs Committees. Congressman Nunes has

traveled extensively to war zones to meet with soldiers and examine first-hand their

status. As a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, he

participates in oversight of the U.S. national security apparatus, including the

4
intelligence-related activities of seventeen agencies, departments, and other elements of

the United States Government. Nunes authored the Hubbard Act of 2008 (H.R. 5825),

which was named in honor of the Hubbard brothers of California – Jared, Nathan, and

Jason. Jared and Nathan lost their lives serving in Iraq. Jason was discharged as a sole

survivor, but was denied separation benefits upon leaving the Army. The Hubbard Act,

which was enacted into law, provides sole survivors with numerous benefits that were

already offered to other soldiers honorably discharged. It relieves sole survivors from

repaying any portion of their enlistment bonus; entitles them to the educational benefits

of the Montgomery GI Bill; and allows them to receive separation pay and transitional

healthcare coverage. [https://nunes.house.gov/about/; https://www.devinnunes.com/bio].

5. Nunes’ career as a United States Congressman is distinguished by his

honor, dedication and service to his constituents and his country, his honesty, integrity,

ethics, and reputation for truthfulness and veracity.

6. In 2018, during his last re-election for the 22nd Congressional District and

while he served as a Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence

investigating corruption by the Clinton campaign and alleged Russian “collusion” during

the 2016 Presidential Election, Nunes endured a multi-front, orchestrated defamation

campaign of stunning breadth and scope, one that no human being should ever have to

bear and suffer in their whole life.

7. This case involves the subversive efforts of McClatchy and its

confederates to use the press as a for-pay political weapon.

8. Defendant, McClatchy, is a Delaware corporation, headquartered in

California. McClatchy is a public company (NYSE:MNI) with operations in fourteen

5
(14) states, as well as national news coverage broadcast to Virginia and elsewhere

through a Washington D.C. based bureau. The following table summarizes McClatchy’s

media companies, their digital platforms, newspaper circulation, and total unique visitors:

McClatchy’s media companies range from large daily newspapers and news websites

serving metropolitan areas to non‑daily newspapers with news websites and online

platforms serving small communities. For the full year ended December 31, 2018,

McClatchy had 66.4 million average monthly unique visitors to its online platforms and

3.9 billion page views of its digital products. McClatchy’s primary sources of revenues

are digital and print advertising (national and major accounts, retail accounts, classifieds

and direct marketing) and audience subscriptions. Audience revenues include either

digital-only subscriptions or bundled subscriptions, which include both digital and print.

6
McClatchy is at home in Virginia. Its print newspapers are delivered to businesses and

consumers throughout Virginia, including Albemarle County, every day by large

distributors and independent contractors. Its digital media is transmitted to Virginia via

active websites and content providers, such as www.fresnobee.com and

www.twitter.com. This case involves McClatchy’s delivery to and publication of

defamatory statements in Albemarle County and throughout Virginia, and the publication

of false and defamatory statements by McClatchy and its agents and co-conspirators who

were, at all relevant time, physically present in Virginia.

9. McClatchy and its media companies, including the Fresno Bee, regularly

use Twitter as part of their businesses. [https://twitter.com/mcclatchy?lang=en&lang=en;

https://twitter.com/FresnoBee?ref src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%

5Eauthor]. As of April 5, 2019, McClatchy followed 2,218 persons on Twitter and had

11,400 followers. The Fresno Bee (@FresnoBee) followed 721 persons and had 87,000

Twitter followers. Many of McClatchy’s reporters and editors also use Twitter. [See, e.g.

https://twitter.com/MackenzieMays?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ct

wgr%5Eauthor (MacKenzie Mays); https://twitter.com/marekthebee?lang=en (Marek

Warszawski); https://twitter.com/josephkieta?lang=en (Joseph Kieta)].

10. To maximize the insult, embarrassment, humiliation, and injury to Nunes’

reputation and as evidence of its actual malice, McClatchy chose to publish its false and

defamatory statements (detailed below in haec verba) both in print in newspapers, and

online via its websites, including www.fresnobee.com and www.mcclatchydc.com/, and

to the Twitter universe. On May 23, 2018, for instance, McClatchy published the

following article written by MacKenzie Mays (“Mays”):

7
[https://www.fresnobee.com/news/business/article210912434.html]. As of April 5, 2019,

Mays followed 5,654 persons on Twitter and had 5,151 followers. In furtherance of

McClatchy’s scheme to defame Nunes and injure his reputation, 2 Mays tweeted and

2
The timing of McClatchy’s publication of the Yacht/Cocaine/Prostitutes
article on May 23, 2018 demonstrates that the article was part of a scheme to defame
Nunes. McClatchy published the article during the 2018 Congressional election
campaign, just weeks before the June 5, 2018 primary. The story was not “news” in
2018, however. As was well-known to McClatchy, the incident aboard the yacht in 2015
and the lawsuit that followed were extensively reported on by Winebusiness in 2016.
[https://www.winebusiness.com/news/?go=getArticle&dataid=176634]. Winebusiness is
a monthly magazine with a distribution throughout North America. It is the leading
producer of information, events and resources for the wine industry in the United States.
[https://www.winebusiness.com/company/]. Winebusiness’ coverage of the incident
aboard the yacht was a matter of common knowledge, for instance, on Twitter. [E.g.,
https://twitter.com/msgoddessrises/status/845320410493206529].

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republished the Yacht/Cocaine/Prostitutes article to her 5,151 followers on Twitter with

the following message:

[https://twitter.com/MackenzieMays/status/999366435368398848]. In her tweet, Mays

chose to emphasize the words “woman”, “Devin” and “cocaine”. 3

McClatchy’s Yacht/Cocaine/Prostitutes Story

11. The McClatchy Yacht/Cocaine/Prostitutes article reported about an

incident that was alleged to have occurred on board a yacht 4 in 2015. The incident

involved an employee of the Alpha Omega Winery. Nunes was (and is) a limited partner

of the Alpha Omega Winery. As an event for charity, the yacht had been auctioned off

for a day’s use by a third-party. Guests aboard the yacht 5 were alleged to have used

cocaine and engaged in sex with seemingly underage prostitutes. The employee of Alpha

Omega Winery later sued the Winery over the incident.

3
On May 24, 2018, Mays republished the Yacht/Cocaine/Prosttutes story to
a new target audience – the print and online readers of the Spokesman-Review.
[http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2018/may/24/a-yacht-cocaine-prostitutes-winery-
partly-owned-by/].

4
The name of the yacht is the USS Alpha Omega. McClatchy intentionally
concealed from readers the fact that the yacht is not owned by the Alpha Omega Winery.
5
In the article, Mays falsely stated that the guests were 25 of the Winery’s
“top investors”. In truth, Mays knew that the individuals on the yacht were not affiliated
with the Alpha Omega Winery in any way. In November 2016, the Winery publicly
stated that “[n]o one in the group had any personal or business connection to the winery
or its owners, and no Alpha Omega staff knew anyone in the group.”
[https://www.winebusiness.com/news/?go=getArticle&dataid=176634].

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 12. The defamatory implication (the gist) of McClatchy’s

Yacht/Cocaine/Prostitutes story was that Nunes was involved in the cocaine/sex fueled

“fundraiser.” This is immediately evident from the prominent placement of Nunes’ name

alongside “prostitutes” and “cocaine” in the story’s headline (“A yacht, cocaine,

prostitutes: Winery partly owned by Nunes sued after fundraiser event”). The

headline also materially mischaracterizes the event aboard the yacht as a “fundraiser”. 6 It

was not a fundraiser at all. It was a cruise resulting from a charitable donation. The

McClatchy headline intentionally omitted the word “charity” and labeled the event a

“fundraiser” in a clear effort to imply it was a political fundraising event that a politician

like Congressman Nunes would naturally attend. Furthermore, the online versions of the

story are punctuated by a prominent picture of Nunes and multiple film clips of him.

Indeed, the entire purpose of every element of the Yacht/Cocaine/Prostitutes article – the

headline, the photo, the film clips, and the text itself – is to link Nunes to an event that

McClatchy actually knew before publication he had no involvement with.

13. McClatchy succeeded in linking the cocaine/sex-fueled “fundraiser” with

“prostitutes” to Nunes. The defamatory meaning of the article was clearly understood by

all who read and saw McClatchy’s publication. NBC News, Capitol Hill Correspondent,

Kasie Hunt (“Hunt”), has 421,500 followers on Twitter:

6
The employee’s lawsuit alleges that the event was a “charity fundraiser”.

10
Hunt tweeted the following:

14. The Yacht/Cocaine/Prostitutes story contains multiple intentional

falsehoods:

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 a. The story falsely states that “[i]t's unclear … if he [Nunes] was

… affiliated with the fundraiser.” In truth, prior to McClatchy’s publication of the

article, McClatchy had been expressly informed by the Alpha Omega Winery that Nunes

had no affiliation whatsoever with the event. There was nothing “unclear” about it.

McClatchy knew that Nunes had no affiliation with the “fundraiser”, yet still claimed

(falsely) that “[i]t’s unclear … if he was … affiliated with the fundraiser.” McClatchy’s

statements are provably false because they mispresent McClatchy’s and Mays’

knowledge and state of mind and because it is absolutely false to imply, infer or insinuate

that Nunes had any involvement of any kind in or with the incident aboard the yacht.

b. McClatchy’s statement that it was “unclear … if he [Nunes] was

aware of the lawsuit” is similarly false and defamatory. At the time it published the

Yacht/Cocaine/Prostitutes article, McClatchy had no reason to believe that Nunes was

ever made aware of the lawsuit. By ascribing to Nunes “aware[ness]” of the lawsuit and

by failing to state how and when Nunes became aware of the lawsuit, McClatchy imputed

dishonesty and wrongdoing to Nunes. McClatchy made it appear as if Nunes and his

“friend” suppressed the fact that a lawsuit had been filed against the Winery.

c. McClatchy’s Yacht/Cocaine/Prostitutes article originally stated

(falsely) that Alpha Omega Winery sold wine to “Russian clients while the

congressman was at the helm of a federal investigation of Russian meddling into the

presidential election” (emphasis added), falsely implying that Nunes had a conflict of

interest and acted unethically and improperly during his investigation of alleged Russian

“collusion”. McClatchy’s article originally stated as follows:

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McClatchy’s statement was blatantly false because the wine sale occurred in 2013 and

the “Russian meddling investigation” did not begin until 2017. Recognizing the blatant

falsehood, McClatchy performed two edits on the sentence. In the first edit, McClatchy

repeated the assertion that Alpha Omega sold wine to Russians while Nunes led the

investigation, but added a tweet from Alpha Omega that declared the wine sale to Russia

had occurred in 2013. After the first edit, the sentence read:

McClatchy then performed a second edit – a stealth edit. 7 McClatchy deleted the Alpha

Omega tweet and changed the language of the passage to specify that the sale was in

2013 and that the “discovery” of the sale – no longer the sale itself – occurred “amid”

Nunes’ investigation. In its final form, the sentence reads as follows:

7
“Stealth edits” are silent but substantial changes in content or tone to a
piece of published media. For instance, in 2017, the Washington Post silently rewrote an
article on Russian hackers, changing the reported details radically in just the first few
hours following publication when it became clear that the original version contained
serious factual errors. After multiple outlets drew public attention to the Post’s lack of
editorial acknowledgement of the alterations, the Post added an editor’s note to the piece.
[https://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/03/17/new-york-times-bernie-sanders-
coverage-public-editor/].

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McClatchy failed to attach a note to the story to indicate that edits had been made or that

the story originally contained the false claim that Alpha Omega’s wine sale to Russia

occurred during Nunes’ Russia investigation. In this regard, McClatchy perpetrated a

fraud on its readers, abandoned journalistic standards, integrity and ethics [e.g.,

https://www.spj.org/pdf/spj-code-of-ethics.pdf], and even violated its own Code of

Business Conduct and Ethics with regard to fair dealing. http://media.corporate-

ir.net/media_files/IROL/87/87841/McClatchy%20Code%20of%20Conduct%202018%20

web.pdf (“Our goal is to be regarded as a company that does business with integrity.

Accordingly, each employee should endeavor to deal fairly with the Company’s

customers, suppliers, competitors and employees. You must never take unfair advantage

of anyone through manipulation, concealment, abuse of privileged information,

misrepresentation of material facts or any other unfair-dealing practices.”)].

d. Compounding its intentional manipulation, stealthy concealment

and unfair business practices, on June 14, 2018 the “editorial board” of the Fresno Bee

published a statement purporting to rebut criticism from Nunes over the

Yacht/Cocaine/Prostitutes story. The Bee stated the following:

“Claim: ‘The Fresno Bee also falsely reported that Alpha Omega sold wine to
Russia while Mr. Nunes led an investigation of that country.’

Fact: The story reported that Alpha Omega sold wine to Russian clients in 2013.
A Russian alcohol distributor called Luding lists Alpha Omega as one of its
American suppliers. The discovery of that relationship came as Nunes and his
committee looked into the suspected election meddling. It should be noted that
Alpha Omega tweeted it only did business in Russia in 2013. That involved a
single transaction for 22 cases. But Luding still lists Alpha Omega on its
website.”

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[https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/editorials/article213209074.html]. Rather than

admit the fact that the original Yacht/Cocaine/Prostitutes article contained a material

misrepresentation and that McClatchy had secretly edited the article after being caught in

a lie, the Fresno Bee adamantly refused to acknowledge they had falsely reported that the

wine sale occurred “while” Nunes led the Russia investigation. The original false report,

the attempt to hide it with an unacknowledged stealth edit, and the absolute denial in the

June op-ed that the false report was published at all, demonstrates McClatchy’s reckless

disregard for the truth. This conduct is a gross departure from accepted journalistic

standards and evidences spite, ill-will and criminal intent.

e. McClatchy’s fraudulent editorial practices regarding Congressman

Nunes did not stop in June 2018. McClatchy continued to exhibit a reckless disregard for

the truth. In an October 3, 2018 interview with the Visalia Times Delta, Fresno Bee

executive editor and senior vice president, Joe Kieta (“Kieta”), represented that he was

proud that the Bee had never had to issue a retraction on its coverage of Nunes.

[https://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/10/03/devin-

nunes-escalates-war-against-fresno-bee/1503743002/]. Kieta’s statement was patently

deceitful. He hid from readers the fact that, while the Fresno Bee did not subject its

Nunes coverage to retractions – which are public acknowledgements of mistakes – the

Bee did print false statements about Nunes, corrected those statements through stealth

edits (which it concealed from readers), and then deceptively refused to acknowledge that

any of this occurred at all. During the interview with the Visalia Times Delta, Kieta also

did not hesitate to slander Nunes. Kieta said, “Nunes … doesn’t care about the truth”.

Kieta’s insulting and hurtful statements about Nunes illustrate both the depth of

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McClatchy’s actual malice and the professional shortcomings in McClatchy’s editorial

leadership.

15. In furtherance of the scheme to defame Nunes, McClatchy chose to spread

the poison in its Yacht/Cocaine/Prostitutes article to the farthest reaches of its readership

in Virginia and throughout the United States. In addition to publication via print media

and publication online, McClatchy chose to republish the false and defamatory

Yacht/Cocaine/Prostitutes article to yet another target audience – the Fresno Bee’s

87,000 Twitter followers:

16
The Yacht/Cocaine/Prostitutes article was republished online and retweeted and posted

on the Internet hundreds of thousands of times. It travelled through social media like

wildfire. Readers understood McClatchy’s statements to mean that Nunes was involved

with cocaine and underage prostitutes. The defamatory meaning of the statements in the

Yacht/Cocaine/Prostitutes article was apparent from the words carefully chosen by

McClatchy. [See, e.g., https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/05/24/rep-devin-nunes-

linked-to-napa-winery-that-allegedly-held-prostitutes-and-cocaine-cruise/ (“A new report

links California Republican Congressman Devin Nunes to a lawsuit concerning a Napa

Winery’s San Francisco Bay cruise that allegedly featured prostitutes and cocaine. The

link was made by a California newspaper Nunes recently described in extremely

unflattering terms.”). 8 McClatchy’s words obviously had their desired effect – they

linked Nunes to “underage prostitutes” and cocaine”, see, e.g.:

https://twitter.com/adamparkhomenko/status/999384522335584256?lang=en; 9

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIc_16_vaH4 (“Devin Nunes just got caught

up in a disgusting yacht, cocaine, prostitute scandal”);

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/25/devin-nunes-russia-probe-fundraising-

609492 (“On Wednesday, a report in the Fresno Bee linked Nunes to a winery that

allegedly held a wild cocaine-and-prostitutes evening yacht cruise – a winery where the

congressman is a part-owner.”);

8
In February 2018, Nunes described the Fresno Bee as a “left-wing rag”
and a “joke”. McClatchy obviously harbored a grudge against Nunes as a result of
Nunes’ statements about the Fresno Bee.
9
Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) is a Democratic strategist
and political advisor to Hillary Clinton who lives and works in McLean, Virginia. In
May 2018, when he republished McClatchy’s article in Virginia, Parkhomenko had over
250,000 followers on Twitter. [See https://twitter.com/AdamParkhomenko?lang=en].

17
 https://www.usatoday.com/media/cinematic/video/35299723/nunes-linked-

winery-sued-over-coke-prostitute-yacht-party/;

https://twitter.com/DavidCayJ/status/1049287537137782784 (“Underage hookers,

cocaine & @DevinNunes – a story never denied by winery that paid a hush money

settlement. The Fresno politician works to ensure there is no serious Congressional

investigation of Putin's illegal aid to Trump campaign”).

16. Defendant, Mair, is a citizen of Virginia. She lives and works in Arlington

County. Mair joined Twitter in either 2007 or 2010. She currently operates a twitter

account titled “BeingSuedByDevinNunes”, 10 with the handle/tag “@LizMair”. As of

April 5, 2019, Mair followed 309 Twitter accounts/users and had 44,000 followers.

[https://twitter.com/LizMair?ref src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5

Eauthor; see also https://twitter.com/lizamair?lang=en]. Mair’s Twitter profile discloses

that she is a “Comms strategist. Blunt (‘16). Walker (‘12-‘15). 11 Rand Paul (‘13). Perry

(‘12) Fiorina (‘10); former RNC Online Comms Director; Tory; libertarian; Arsenal fan”.

10
Prior to March 19, 2019, Mair’s username on Twitter was
“BrandValue$4B”. After Plaintiff filed suit against Mair and others in the Circuit Court
for the County of Henrico [Nunes v. Twitter et al., Case CL19-1715], Mair changed her
username to “BeingSuedByDevinNunes”. Mair is a political operative and a digital
terrorist for-hire. Her job on behalf of her benefactors is to target the opposition, carry
out smear campaigns in coordination with third-parties in Virginia and elsewhere in the
United States, and, in the process, to create extreme negative publicity for the targets, in
this case Plaintiff. Mair is conscious that Twitter is an echo-chamber. She intentionally
changed her identity on Twitter to exploit Plaintiff’s name solely to obtain more
followers and to maliciously increase the audience, scope and breadth of her false and
defamatory statements.
11
Mair was terminated from the Walker campaign shortly after she tweeted
derogatory and disparaging statements about the residents of Iowa.
[https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2015/03/16/scott-walker-digital-
chief-taken-swipes-iowa/24865861/; https://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/236052-under-
fire-walker-aide-liz-mair-resigns.

18
Mair claims that she is “the US’ leading right-of-center online communications

operative”. [https://www.lizmair.com/biography.php#navbar]. In December 2015, Mair

founded a super PAC called “Make America Awesome” (FEC Id. # C00594176), whose

sole (and failed) purpose was to block and reverse Donald’s Trump’s ascent in politics by

using “unconventional and cost-effective tactics”. 12 Mair claims that since 2011 she has

“advised multiple Fortune 500, FTSE 100 and other publicly-traded corporate clients, as

well as numerous large trade associations and prominent non-profits on communications

in the US, the UK and the EU.” On her LinkedIn profile, Mair admits that:

[https://www.linkedin.com/in/liz-mair-76b03a2/]. During Nunes’ re-election campaign

in 2018, Mair conspired with (and presumably was paid by) one or more as-yet unknown

“clients” to attack and smear Nunes. True to her word on LinkedIn, Mair relentlessly

smeared and defamed Nunes throughout 2018, filming stunts at Nunes’ office in

12
Plaintiff was a member of the Trump transition team. Plaintiff is widely
recognized for his emphatic and repeated statements throughout 2018 that the accusations
of “collusion” between the Trump campaign and the Russians were 100% false.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/09/16/devin nunes shocking number of
americans have drank the russia kool-
aid_truly_believe_gop_is_controlled_by_kremlin.html]. As evidenced by Attorney
General Barr’s summary of the Mueller Report, Plaintiff was 100% correct in his
assessment. At all times relevant to this case, Mair harbored spite, ill-will, actual malice,
and a desire to hurt Nunes because of Nunes’ support for President Trump and Mair’s
deep-seeded hatred of Trump. Mair is famous for her appearance on CNN, where she
referred to presidential candidate Donald Trump as a “loud mouth dick”.
[https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/08/04/republican_strategist_liz_mair_tru
mp_a_loud_mouth_dick.html].

19
Washington, D.C. and posting them online, publishing videos on YouTube that falsely

accused Nunes of multiple crimes, repeatedly publishing false and defamatory statements

on Twitter, 13 defaming Nunes online and to the press, and filing fraudulent ethics

complaints against Nunes accusing him, inter alia, of violating House Ethics Rules, e.g.:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOp7se7n9XI;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHGYMcVN SQ;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUseOu2ReS4; 14

https://www.crowdpac.com/campaigns/386770/hold-devin-nunes-

accountable?ref_code=share&utm_source=sharer-

ask&utm_medium=receipt&utm_campaign=S0qacrvwpg4P2coDlGw1ujXljN1y7HxX&u

tm content=20&source code=tw-receipt-first; 15

13
Mair falsely tweeted to her then 37,900 followers, inter alia, that Nunes
“voted for warrantless wiretapping and unlimited surveillance of Americans’ emails (incl
Carter Page’s)” [https://twitter.com/LizMair/status/1041873937427300352]; that Nunes
broke the law when he “spent contributions that are supposed to be used for the express
purposes of the PAC or committee in question, and not for financing their personal
lifestyle choices. That is a legal problem, not just an ethical or optics-related one”
[https://twitter.com/LizMair/status/1032990757869813761]; and that Nunes leaked text
messages between a lobbyist and Senator Mark Warner to Fox News
[https://twitter.com/LizMair/status/969409912366338049]. Even after Nunes won the
election, Mair continued to attack him, stating, inter alia, that Nunes was “still a clown
with big league ethical issues that may well cost him his seat in 2020”
[https://twitter.com/LizMair/status/1095574579223949312].

14
Among the false statements published by Mair in this video is that “Nunes
is still entangled with a winery implicated in a scandal involving his co-investors, cocaine
and child prostitutes”.

15
In this publication, Mair makes the following false statements about
Nunes: “Ethical leadership in government? He’s invested in a winery that allegedly
solicited capital by using underage prostitutes. Really.”

20
 https://www.fresnobee.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-

blogs/political-notebook/article214693435.html; 16

https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/398980-activist-group-trolls-

nunes-with-new-sneakers-to-run-away-from;

https://swampaccountabilityproject.com/letter/.

17. Throughout 2018, Mair was out to “stick it” to Nunes. By her own

admissions on Twitter, she “hates Devin Nunes” and “dumped 17 a lot” on Nunes.

[https://twitter.com/LizMair/status/1046599052996096001]. In furtherance of the

conspiracy between Mair and McClatchy, Mair pitched false narratives to McClatchy.

McClatchy knew that Mair was a paid political operative, and, specifically, that she was

being paid by “clients” to smear Nunes. McClatchy accepted Mair’s preconceived

storylines, and agreed to print them. Mair offered egregious soundbites to McClatchy

that McClatchy simply republished in articles without any fact-checking. [E.g.,

https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/article215099780.html (“‘the

fact is, the FEC is not going to look favorably on a dude who uses his tax-exempt

political entity like a personal slush fund, flying himself to Boston to watch them while

apparently engaging in no activity relevant to the purpose of the political organization,’

16
In this article written by Mays, Mair published the following statement to
McClatchy’s Fresno Bee, “OCE [the Office of Congressional Ethics] should prioritize a
review of Rep. Nunes’ investment and involvement in the Alpha Omega Winery, and the
facts reported by The Fresno Bee. Such review should be undertaken as swiftly as
possible”.
17
Opposition research (also called “oppo” research) is the practice of
collecting information on a political opponent or other adversary that can be used to
discredit or otherwise weaken them. The information can include biographical, legal,
criminal, medical, educational, or financial history or activities. “Oppo dumps” are used
by political campaigns to systematically supply files of damaging information to press
outlets, including matters of the public record, video footage from party archives and
private collections, as well as private intelligence gathered by operatives.

21
said Liz Mair”). Mair and McClatchy coordinated their defamation campaign against

Nunes. On many occasions, Mair tweeted McClatchy’s articles to her 37,900 followers

on the same day the articles were published by McClatchy. Mair and McClatchy, acting

in concert, escalated the defamation. In her May 23, 2018 tweet, with Mays’ article

attached, Mair wrote:

[https://twitter.com/LizMair/status/999407730220650497]. Mair’s May 23, 2018 tweet

implied that Nunes colluded with prostitutes and cocaine addicts. Mair’s tweet was

22
retweeted 1,200 times and liked 1,600 times. Those who read Mair’s tweet clearly

understood its defamatory meaning. See, e.g.:

While the conspiracy with McClatchy continued, Mair tweeted one of her most egregious

and defamatory statements about Nunes:

23
[https://twitter.com/LizMair/status/1010359462891327490]. 18 Mair’s disdain and malice

towards Nunes is exemplified by her reference to him as “Dirty Devin Nunes”.

[https://twitter.com/LizMair/status/1020037699472850945 (“Dirty Devin Nunes has

perfected the art of converting attacks on the DOJ and the Democratic leadership ‘cabal’

(his actual word choice to describe people like Chuck Schumer and Adam Schiff) into

whopping, great loads of cash naively donated by Republicans thousands of miles away

from places like Fresno, Visalia and Tulare”)].

18. Defendant, Mair Strategies, is a Virginia limited liability company, active

and in good standing. Mair is the sole member and manager of Mair Strategies. On its

website, www.mairstrategies.com, Mair Strategies claims to be a “boutique

communications and public relations firm, with specialties in online, political, and crisis

communications, as well as opposition research formulation and seeding.” Mair

Strategies represents that it is an “entirely virtual firm staffed by politics veterans” – “the

firm is ‘lean and mean’ and brings an aggressive, hard-hitting, presidential campaign-

style approach to issues work it manages and executes for its clients.”

[https://www.mairstrategies.com/about.php#navbar]. At all times relevant to this action,

Mair acted within the scope of her employment for Mair Strategies, acted during work

hours and while conducting Mair Strategies’ business, using a Twitter account that linked

back to Mair Strategies, and with the knowledge and actual or apparent authority of Mair

Strategies. Mair Strategies is liable for Mair’s defamation of Nunes under the doctrine of

respondeat superior.

18
Upon information and belief, McClatchy and its reporters, including
Mays, were among the 1,644 persons who retweeted Mair’s June 22, 2018 tweet and/or
one of 4,424 people who liked the tweet.

24
 19. The purpose of the concerted defamation campaign was to cause immense

pain, intimidate, interfere with and divert Nunes’ attention from his investigation of

corruption and alleged Russian involvement in the 2016 Presidential Election. The

substance and timing of the publication of McClatchy’s online articles and the tweets,

retweets, replies and likes by Mair and McClatchy reporters demonstrates that McClatchy

and Mair were engaged in a joint effort, together and with others, to defame Nunes and

interfere with his duties, employment and investigations of corruption as a United States

Congressman. The attacks on Nunes were pre-planned, calculated, orchestrated and

undertaken by multiple individuals acting in concert, over a continuous period of time

throughout 2018. The full scope of the conspiracy, including the names of all

participants and the level of involvement of any agents or instrumentalities of foreign

governments, is unknown at this time and will be the subject of discovery in this action.

III. JURISDICTION AND VENUE

20. The Circuit Court for the County of Albemarle has jurisdiction of this

matter pursuant to § 17.1-513 of the Code.

21. The Defendants are subject to personal jurisdiction in Virginia pursuant to

Virginia’s long-arm statute, § 8.01-328.1(A)(1), (A)(3) and (A)(4) of the Code, as well as

the Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution. The Defendants are subject to

general jurisdiction and specific jurisdiction in Virginia. They engage in continuous and

systematic business in Virginia. McClatchy owns property and investments in

Charlottesville, Virginia. [see, e.g., http://investors.mcclatchy.com/news-releases/news-

release-details/mcclatchy-launches-moonlighting-demand-jobs-marketplace-websites;

https://www.mcclatchy.com/our-impact/investments]; https://twitter.com/Moonlighting;

25
https://www.linkedin.com/company/moonlighting-llc/;

https://www.facebook.com/Moonlighting/]. McClatchy reporters are physically present

in Virginia and conducting business in Virginia virtually every day. McClatchy

publishes hundreds of stories every year on matters of unique concern to Virginians.

McClatchy derives substantial revenue from its property and business in Virginia. The

Defendants each have minimum contacts with Virginia such that the exercise of personal

jurisdiction over them comports with traditional notions of fair play and substantial

justice and is consistent with the Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution.

22. Venue is proper in the Albemarle Circuit Court pursuant to §§ 8.01-

262(3-4) and 8.01-263(2) of the Code.

COUNT I – DEFAMATION PER SE

(Against McClatchy)

23. Plaintiff restates paragraphs 1 through 22 of his Complaint, and

incorporates them herein by reference.

24. The law of defamation protects a basic constitutional interest: the

individual’s right to personal security and the uninterrupted entitlement to enjoyment of

his reputation. Gazette, Inc. v. Harris, 229 Va. 1, 7, 325 S.E.2d 713 (1985) (citation

omitted). In Rosenblatt v. Baer, Mr. Justice Stewart emphasized that:

“‘Society has a pervasive and strong interest in preventing and redressing attacks
upon reputation.’ The right of a man to the protection of his own reputation from
unjustified invasion and wrongful hurt reflects no more than our basic concept of
the essential dignity and worth of every human being—a concept at the root of
any decent system of ordered liberty … The destruction that defamatory
falsehood can bring is, to be sure, often beyond the capacity of the law to redeem.
Yet, imperfect though it is, an action for damages is the only hope for vindication
or redress the law gives to a man whose reputation has been falsely dishonored …
Surely if the 1950’s taught us anything, they taught us that the poisonous
atmosphere of the easy lie can infect and degrade a whole society.”

26
383 U.S. 75, 92-93 (1966); id. Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Co., 497 U.S. 1, 12 (1990)

(“Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, Is the immediate jewel of their souls. Who

steals my purse steals trash; ‘Tis something, nothing; ‘Twas mine, `tis his, and has been slave

to thousands; But he that filches from me my good name Robs me of that which not enriches

him, And makes me poor indeed.”) (quoting WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, OTHELLO, act 3

sc. 3)). 19

25. Words like those employed by McClatchy and Mair in this case tending to

scandalize a public figure are, in the words of William Blackstone, “reputed more highly

injurious than when spoken of a private man”. 3 W. Blackstone, Commentaries * 124. At

common law, libel of a public official was deemed an offense “‘most dangerous to the

people, and deserv[ing of] punishment, because the people may be deceived and reject

the best citizens to their great injury, and it may be to the loss of their liberties.’” M.

Newell, Defamation, Libel and Slander § 533 (1890) (quoting Commonwealth v. Clap, 4

Mass. 163, 169-170 (1808)); accord White v. Nicholls, 3 How. 266, 290 (1845). As a

citizen of the United States of America and as a United States Congressman sworn to

uphold the Constitution and laws of this great country, Nunes has a fundamental, core

interest, private right and entitlement to the uninterrupted enjoyment of his reputation.

The First Amendment neither alters Nunes’ common law rights nor does it license libel or

slander. The Defendants enjoy absolutely no privilege to use the Internet or social media

as a weapon to defame.

19
Libelous speech is not protected by the First Amendment. Bose Corp. v.
Consumers Union of the United States, Inc., 466 U.S. 485, 504 (1984) (cited in Pendleton
v. Newsome, 290 Va. 162, 173, 772 S.E.2d 759 (2015)); id. United States v. Alvarez, 132
S. Ct. 2537, 2560 (2012) (“false factual statements possess no First Amendment value.”).

27
 26. McClatchy, using the Internet, print media and Twitter, made, published

and republished numerous false factual statements of and concerning Nunes. These

statements are detailed verbatim above. McClatchy published the false statements

without privilege of any kind. After publishing the May 23, 2018

Yacht/Cocaine/Prostitutes hit piece, McClatchy continued to defame Nunes:

a. On May 31, 2018, the “Fresno Bee Editorial Board” implied that

Nunes was dishonest, unethical and concealing information from the Bee. McClatchy

stated that “on the one hand, you can give your account of what you understood the

situation to be, explain how what happened on the boat was repugnant to your values, and

explain why you continue to be an investor. Chances are the answers would be

straightforward. The affair would likely fade from view. 20 But if you are Devin Nunes,

you choose to be silent and offer no answers to The Bee’s questions.” McClatchy further

stated that “it would be hard to imagine he [Nunes] did not learn of this ill-fated cruise

soon after it happened since Robin Baggett, the winery owner, is a good friend of the

congressman’s who invited him to invest in the first place.” These statements are

defamatory by implication. [https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/article212299034.html].

b. On June 8, 2018, in furtherance of the conspiracy to defame

Nunes, McClatchy published a story written by Mays about an ethics complaint filed

against Nunes by the left-wing non-profit group, “American Democracy Legal Fund”

(“ADLF”). The ethics complaint was a sham. According to Mays, the ADLF complaint

asked the Office of Congressional Ethics (“OCE”) to “investigate whether Nunes was on

20
The statements published by the Fresno Bee on May 31, 2018 demonstrate
that the Bee did not honestly believe that Nunes had any involvement in the yacht
incident.

28
the yacht” during the incident reported on in Mays’ May 23, 2018 article. McClatchy

had no business republishing the ADLF ethics complaint. Mays knew that Nunes

was not on the yacht and had never been alleged to be on the yacht. Mays knew the

truth. There were obvious reasons, therefore, to doubt the veracity of the ADLF

ethics complaint. [See St. Amant v. Thompson, 390 U.S. 727, 732 (1968)

(“[R]ecklessness may be found where there are obvious reasons to doubt the

veracity of the informant.”); Zerangue v. TSP Newspapers, Inc., 814 F.2d 1066, 1071

(5th Cir. 1987) (“[C]ourts have upheld findings of actual malice when a defendant

failed to investigate a story weakened by inherent improbability, internal

inconsistency, or apparently reliable contrary information.”); see ZS Associates, Inc.

v. Synygy, Inc., 2011 WL 2038513, at * 4 (E.D. Pa. 2011) (“The [fair report] privilege

was not ‘intended to permit a person maliciously to institute a judicial proceeding,

alleging false and defamatory charges, then to circulate a press release or other

communication based thereon, and, ultimately to escape liability by invoking the

fair report privilege’”) (citations and quotation omitted)]. McClatchy published the

ADLF ethics complaint in spite of its actual knowledge of the true facts, and in

furtherance of the scheme or artifice to defame Nunes. Mays used a “straw man”

(ADLF) to do indirectly what Mays could not do directly – publish false statements

that Nunes was on the yacht with prostitutes and cocaine. McClatchy’s June 8, 2018

article recklessly republished the ADLF complaint and a number of patently false

statements alleged to be attributed to the ADLF, including:

29
 “‘At best, congressman Nunes' company hosted an event featuring sex workers
and illegal drug use, and even worse, it is possible he participated in illegal
activity along with his business partners,’ said Brad Woodhouse, treasurer of the
American Democracy Legal Fund, based in D.C. ‘Nunes’ constituents deserve a
prompt and thorough investigation to determine exactly what took place and the
extent to which congressman Nunes was involved.’”

[https://www.fresnobee.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/political-

notebook/article212769539.html]. Mays republished the June 8, 2018 article to her

Twitter followers. [https://twitter.com/MackenzieMays/status/1005227658496520192].

As a republisher of a defamatory statement, McClatchy is subject to the same

liability as the original publisher, ADLF.

c. On June 14, 2018, McClatchy falsely accused Nunes of lying and

spreading “fake news” about the Fresno Bee in a YouTube video.

[https://twitter.com/MackenzieMays/status/1007385433301372928;

https://twitter.com/josephkieta/status/1007386853656260608].

d. On July 11, 2018, in furtherance of the conspiracy to defame

Nunes, McClatchy published a story written by Mays about ethics complaints filed

against Nunes by “left-leaning federal government watchdog group” “Campaign for

Accountability” and the “Swamp Accountability Project”. 21 The complaints were total

shams. According to Mays, the Swamp Accountability Project was an “anti-Trump

group in D.C.” Mays concealed the fact that Mair is an opposition research operative

who admittedly smears targets, such as Nunes, for pay from as-yet anonymous clients.

This was a crucial omission, since it would have revealed Mair’s motives and cast grave

doubt on her credibility and veracity and on the credibility and veracity of her handlers.

21
Mair operates the Swamp Accountability Project. Mair prepared and filed
the ethics complaint, which McClatchy eagerly regurgitated.

30
Mays quoted parts of the Swamp complaint. The complaint falsely stated and/or implied

that Nunes had violated the House ethics rules and code of conduct

[https://ethics.house.gov/publication/code-official-conduct] and should be investigated.

[https://www.fresnobee.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/political-

notebook/article214693435.html]. Mays republished the June 11, 2018 article via

Twitter. https://twitter.com/MackenzieMays/status/1017146181355360257].

e. On July 19, 2018, McClatchy published an article that falsely

accused Nunes of misusing campaign funds. In the article, Mair was quoted accusing

Nunes of corruption, and once again McClatchy failed to inform readers of Mair’s

employment with Mair Strategies, an opposition research company that, in Mair’s own

words, “smears” targets for paying clients [https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-

government/article215099780.html]. McClatchy reporter, Kate Irby, tweeted the article

to her 6,000+ followers on Twitter in Virginia and else throughout the United States.

[https://twitter.com/kateirby/status/1019930527799881728]. 22

27. At all times relevant to this action, Mair acted as a co-conspirator and

agent of McClatchy. While the conspiracy between Mair and McClatchy continued, Mair

made, published and republished numerous false factual statements of and concerning

Nunes. These statements are detailed verbatim above. Mair published the false

statements without privilege of any kind. McClatchy is liable for Mair’s false and

defamatory statements as a matter of law.

28. The false statements constitute defamation per se. The statements accuse

and impute to Nunes the commission of crimes involving moral turpitude and for which

22
On July 19, 2018, Mair tweeted on the same subject matter.
[https://twitter.com/LizMair/status/1020037699472850945].

31
Nunes may be punished and imprisoned in a state or federal institution. The statements

impute to Nunes an unfitness to perform the duties of an office or employment for profit,

or the want of integrity in the discharge of the duties of such office or employment.

Finally, McClatchy’s false statements also prejudice Nunes in his profession and

employment as a United States Congressman.

29. By publishing the Yacht/Cocaine/Prostitutes article in print, on the

Internet, and by tweeting it to the Twitter universe, McClatchy knew or should have

known that its defamatory statements would be republished over and over by third-parties

to Nunes’ detriment. Republication by both identified subscribers and Twitter users, such

as Kasie Hunt, and by anonymous persons was the natural and probable consequence of

McClatchy’s actions and was actually and/or presumptively authorized McClatchy. In

addition to the original publications of the Yacht/Cocaine/Prostitutes hit piece,

McClatchy is liable for the republications of the false and defamatory statements by

third-parties under the doctrine (the “republication rule”) announced by the Supreme

Court of Virginia in Weaver v. Home Beneficial Co., 199 Va. 196, 200, 98 S.E.2d 687

(1957) (“where the words declared on are slanderous per se their repetition by others is

the natural and probable result of the original slander.”).

30. McClatchy’s false statements have harmed Nunes and his reputation.

31. McClatchy made the false statements with actual or constructive

knowledge that they were false or with reckless disregard for whether they were false.

McClatchy acted with actual malice and reckless disregard for the truth for the following

reasons:

32
 a. McClatchy conceived a story line in advance of any investigation

and then consciously set out to make the evidence conform to the preconceived story.

McClatchy pursued and regurgitated preconceived narratives about Nunes that it knew to

be false, and intentionally employed a scheme or artifice to defame Nunes with the intent

to interfere with and impede Nunes’ investigations of corruption and alleged “collusion”

during the 2016 presidential campaign and to cause Nunes to lose the 2018 Congressional

election. McClatchy and its reporters acted intentionally, purposefully and in concert

with Mair to accomplish an unlawful purpose through unlawful means, without regard for

the Nunes’ rights and interests.

b. McClatchy knew its statements were false, and possessed

information that demonstrated the falsity of their statements. In a YouTube video

published by Nunes on June 18, 2018 in response to McClatchy’s

Yacht/Cocaine/Prostitutes hit piece, Nunes pointed out the following:

33
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj9_Bsd1LPQ]. McClatchy published a knowingly

false report that the Alpha Omega Winery sold wine to Russia “while” Nunes, as a

member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, led an investigation

into alleged Trump-Russia “collusion”. McClatchy compounded its wrongdoing by

retracting the falsity via a deceitful stealth edit to the Yacht/Cocaine/Prostitutes article.

After being confronted by Nunes, McClatchy refused to acknowledge either the original

falsehood or the stealth edit in their op-ed addressing this precise question. Finally,

McClatchy boss, Kieta, bragged that the Fresno Bee has never “had to” issue a retraction

on Nunes coverage, implying that the Bee has never made any factual mistakes that had

to be corrected. McClatchy’s fraudulent, deceitful, deceptive, unethical and untruthful

actions and omissions, which occurred over a six month period in 2018, show its actual

malice towards Nunes.

c. McClatchy, and its reporters, editors and publishers abandoned all

journalistic standards in writing, editing and publishing the Yacht/Cocaine/Prostitutes

article. One newspaper, the Visalia Times-Delta, would not even touch the story.

[https://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/10/03/devin-

nunes-escalates-war-against-fresno-bee/1503743002/ (“The Times-Delta/Advance-

Register did not pursue the story because editors decided the lawsuit’s ties to Nunes were

34
tenuous. There were no allegations that Nunes was involved in any way with the charity

event, aside from being an investor in the winery.”). Mays behaved more like a political

operative than a journalist. For instance, in August 2018 Mays coordinated efforts with

Nunes’ opponent in his Congressional race and with protestors to stage a stunt at Nunes’

office. During the stunt, the building manager called the police and Mays was thrown out

of the building. [https://twitter.com/MackenzieMays/status/1029395004819533824].

Nunes’ opponent republished the false statements in McClatchy’s

Yacht/Cocaine/Prostitutes hit piece. On October 11, 2018, for instance, he tweeted the

following statement about Nunes:

d. McClatchy relied on sources, such as the ADLF, that it knew to be

wholly debunked and unreliable.

35
 e. McClatchy was in possession of information, including statements

from the Alpha Omega Winery, that demonstrated that McClatchy’s statements about

Nunes were false.

f. In article after article, McClatchy and its reporters exhibited an

institutional hatred for Nunes, spite, ill-will and the intent to hurt Nunes and impugn his

character. [See, e.g., https://twitter.com/MarekTheBee/status/1047940239681933312

(“Joe McCarthy, Karl Marx, Alexander The Great … and @DevinNunes. Just another

propagandist”); https://twitter.com/MackenzieMays/status/1047969215141969920

(accusing Nunes of lying in a mailer)]. On January 25, 2018, McClatchy misrepresented

that Nunes “said he’d seen secret intelligence reports backing Trump’s claims that

President Barack Obama had ‘wiretapped’ his offices, but it turned out the documents

came from the administration.” Nunes never said reports he saw supported Trump claims

that his offices had been wiretapped. In truth, Nunes repeatedly said there was no

evidence Trump’s office had been wiretapped. [See, e.g.,

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/16/us/politics/richard-burr-mark-warner-trump-

wiretap.html; https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/us/politics/trump-wiretap-claim-

obama-comey-congress.html?module=inline (“The Republican chairman of the House

Intelligence Committee, Representative Devin Nunes of California, told reporters on

Capitol Hill that ‘I don’t think there was an actual tap of Trump Tower’ and that Mr.

Trump, if taken literally, is simply ‘wrong.’”)]. Between 2017 and March 22, 2019,

McClatchy’s most prominent national reporters were at the forefront of advancing the

false narrative that Trump campaign associates and allies colluded with Russia to

influence the 2016 election. McClatchy published over twenty (20) articles in which it

36
went all in on the false narrative. 23 Nunes posed a threat to McClatchy. Between 2017

and March 22, 2019 – when the Attorney General announced Special Counsel Mueller

found no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia – Nunes argued

emphatically that there was no “collusion” between Trump associates and Russia to hack

the 2016 presidential election, and that McClatchy was perpetuating a hoax and lying to

the American people. McClatchy defamed Nunes in order to interfere with Nunes’

investigation and to hinder his work debunking the collusion allegations in general and

the Steele dossier in particular.

g. McClatchy exhibited extreme bias in its reporting, editing and

publishing concerning Nunes. On August 21, 2018, Vice News interviewed Kieta. Kieta

made the following statements:

“VICE NEWS: So you're kind of just giving up on that pocket of

KIETA: I wouldn't say I’m giving up on them, but I do think that

[https://www.facebook.com/VICENewsTonight/videos/534622466994510/;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO-X8MMTRco]. Newspapers should be in the

23
Throughout 2018, McClatchy published false stories to stoke the Russian
“collusion” narrative. In addition to stories about Cohen and Prague, McClatchy attacked
Cleta Mitchell, an attorney who represented the National Rifle Association (“NRA”) for
years. McClatchy completely fabricated a story that Ms. Mitchell had “concerns about
[the NRA’s] ties to Russia and its possible involvement in channeling Russian funds into
the 2016 elections to help Donald Trump.” [https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-
government/congress/article205412394.html; https://www.foley.com/mitchell-comments-
on-being-falsely-implicated-in-trump-russia-investigation-08-31-2018/;
https://www.foley.com/mitchell-comments-on-being-falsely-implicated-in-trump-russia-
investigation-08-31-2018/; https://www.wsj.com/articles/anatomy-of-a-fusion-smear-
1535757026]. McClatchy’s hit pieces on Cohen, Mitchell and Nunes clearly demonstrate
that McClatchy was an active participant in a calculated and concerted political
operation, using information taken from a for-pay opposition research firm (Fusion GPS),
for the sole purpose of furthering the Russian “collusion” narrative.

37
business of reporting the truth, not trying to “convince” their readers to vote against a

candidate for office. Coupled with Kieta’s other statements about Nunes described above

in this Complaint, Kieta’s statement to Vice News evidences McClatchy’s political

agenda and extreme bias towards Nunes. It was not long before Kieta flip-flopped and

attempted to back-track on his admission of bias. When he was asked about the Vice

News quote later in a radio interview with Valley Public Radio, Kieta flatly denied that

the question he had been asked had anything to do with Nunes or his supporters. [Again,

the question was, “So you're kind of just giving up on that pocket of the readership or

the community that believes Devin Nunes.” (emphasis added)]. When asked directly

by Valley Public Radio about his “convince” quote, Kieta stated:

“So that quote was taken during an interview I did with Vice News a few months
ago. And the question was asked to me, ‘Are you just giving up on people who
don’t agree with you?’ It had nothing to do with Nunes supporters, it had nothing
to do with the Nunes campaign in specific.”

[https://www.kvpr.org/post/look-inside-40-page-nunes-mailer-targeting-fresno-bee].

Kieta’s actions illustrate the extent to which McClatchy will compound lies about Nunes.

h. McClatchy chose to manufacture and publish false and scandalous

statements and use insulting words that were unnecessarily strong and that constitute

violent, abusive and hateful language, disproportionate to the occasion, in order to

undermine public confidence in Nunes, distract Nunes from the Russia investigation, and

affect the 2018 election. The words chosen by the McClatchy evince their ill-will, spite

and actual malice.

i. McClatchy did not act in good faith because, in the total absence of

evidence, it could not have had an honest belief in the truth of its statements about Nunes.

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 j. McClatchy reiterated, repeated and continued to republish the false

defamatory statements about Nunes, including the Yacht/Cocaine/Prostitutes hit piece,

out of a desire to hurt Nunes and to permanently stigmatize him. McClatchy’s stories

about Nunes were among the Fresno Bee’s most-read stories of 2018, a fact that was

emphasized by the Bee. [https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article223345580.html;

https://twitter.com/MackenzieMays/status/1078718800982208512].

k. McClatchy initiated the defamation in retaliation and reprisal, and

went out of their way to publish and then republish false statements about Nunes that

McClatchy knew were untrue.

l. Nunes loudly and publicly, in advertisements and on YouTube,

demanded a retraction of McClatchy’s defamatory statements. McClatchy not only

refused to retract, but they retaliated against Nunes and doubled-down on their concerted

efforts to injure Nunes, forcing Nunes to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars (with

mailers, radio, television and digital ads) defending himself against the malicious attacks

that went on for months through the 2018 Congressional election.

32. As a direct result of McClatchy’s defamation, Nunes suffered presumed

damages and actual damages, including, but not limited to, insult, pain, embarrassment,

humiliation, mental suffering, injury to his reputation, special damages, costs, and other

out-of-pocket expenses, in the sum of $150,000,000 or such greater amount as is

determined by the Jury.

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 COUNT II – COMMON LAW CONSPIRACY

(Against All Defendants)

33. Plaintiff restates paragraphs 1 through 32 of his Complaint, and

incorporates them herein by reference.

34. Beginning in 2018 and continuing through the present, McClatchy

(including reporters such as Mays acting within the scope of their employment for

McClatchy), Mair and Mair Strategies combined, associated, agreed or acted in concert

together and with one or more “clients”, opposition research firms, strategic intelligence

firms, donors, non-profits, operatives or agents (whose identity is unknown at this time) 24

for the express purposes of injuring Nunes, intentionally and unlawfully impeding and

interfering with his business and employment as a United States Congressman, and

defaming Nunes. In furtherance of the conspiracy and preconceived plan, McClatchy,

Mair and Mair Strategies engaged in a joint scheme the unlawful purpose of which was to

destroy Nunes’ personal and professional reputations, advance the goals of the dark

money behind the paid-for smear campaign, interfere with Nunes’ duties as a United

States Congressman, and influence the outcome of a federal election.

35. McClatchy, Mair and Mair Strategies acted intentionally, purposefully,

without lawful justification, and with the express knowledge that they were defaming

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The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence oversees the
nation’s intelligence agencies, including components of the Departments of Defense,
Homeland Security, Justice, State, Treasury and Energy. Nunes is Ranking Member of
the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. It is in the nation’s interest to
expose the persons behind McClatchy and Mair’s smear campaign and the attempts to
interfere with Nunes’ investigations as a United States Congressman, whether such
persons be domestic operatives or agents/instrumentalities of foreign governments.

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Nunes. As evidenced by their concerted action online and via Twitter, the Defendants

acted with the express and malicious intent to cause Nunes permanent injury.

36. The Defendants’ actions constitute a conspiracy at common law.

37. As a direct result of the Defendants’ willful misconduct, Nunes suffered

actual damages, including, but not limited to, insult, pain, embarrassment, humiliation,

mental suffering, injury to his reputation, special damages, costs, and other out-of-pocket

expenses, in the sum of $150,000,000 or such greater amount as is determined by the

Jury.

COUNT III – INJUNCTION

(Against McClatchy)

38. Plaintiff restates paragraphs 1 through 37 of his Complaint, and

incorporates them herein by reference.

39. In order to protect Nunes’s property interests and his reputation, Nunes

requests the Court to permanently enjoin and order McClatchy to deactivate all

hyperlinks to all online articles and all tweets, retweets, replies and likes by McClatchy or

any of its agents that contain false and defamatory statements about Nunes.

40. Nunes has no adequate remedy at law. The continued publication of the

offending defamation on the Internet constitutes an ongoing nuisance and trespass upon

Nunes’ reputation and interests in his name.

41. Without Court intervention and an injunction, Nunes will suffer actual and

irreparable injury to his property interests and personal rights by the mere fact that

Defendants’ defamatory tweets can be retweeted and republished forever by third-parties.

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 42. There is a substantial likelihood that Nunes will succeed on the merits of

his claims.

Nunes alleges the foregoing based upon personal knowledge, public statements of

others, and records in his possession. Nunes believes that substantial additional

evidentiary support, which is in the exclusive possession of McClatchy, Mair, Mair

Strategies, and their agents and other third-parties, will exist for the allegations and

claims set forth above after a reasonable opportunity for discovery.

Nunes reserves his right to amend this Complaint upon discovery of additional

instances of Defendants’ wrongdoing.

CONCLUSION AND REQUEST FOR RELIEF

WHEREFORE, Devin G. Nunes respectfully requests the Court to enter Judgment

against the Defendants, jointly and severally, as follows:

A. Compensatory damages in the amount of $150,000,000 or such greater

amount as is determined by the Jury;

B. Punitive damages in the amount of $350,000 or the maximum amount

allowed by law;

C. An injunction against McClatchy;

D. Prejudgment interest from May 23, 2018 until the date Judgment is

entered at the maximum rate allowed by law;

E. Postjudgment interest at the rate of six percent (6%) per annum until paid;

F. Attorney’s Fees and Costs;

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