Devin Nunes Discovery Requests Against Twitter, A Fake Cow, And Liz Mair Show Just How Much A Fishing Expedition He's On
from the oh-come-on dept
We've written a few times now about Devin Nunes' ridiculous lawsuit against Twitter, two parody Twitter accounts, and political strategist Liz Mair. In a news interview back in April, Nunes more or less admitted that these lawsuits were fishing expeditions to reveal journalists' sources on articles about himself that he didn't like. Meanwhile, both Twitter and Mair filed motions in the case saying that a Virginia state court is the wrong venue.
The court held a hearing on those motions today, and while the judge has not ruled, the Fresno Bee's article about the hearing lists out Nunes' discovery requests, which show just how much of a fishing expedition this case is. From the Fresno Bee (which is being sued by Nunes in a separate lawsuit):
His discovery requests are extensive, and include:
- The identity of anyone Twitter has done business with in Virginia since 2014
- Any time a Twitter employee has been present in Virginia since 2014
- Any telephone calls by Twitter employees to somewhere in Virginia since 2014
- All emails and text messages of Twitter employees or any of the defendants that mention Nunes
- All information related to the parody accounts @DevinCow and @DevinNunesMom, including phone numbers and all their tweets, messages, likes and retweets
- Everyone who donated to a political fundraising group called Swamp Accountability Project, which bought radio ads against Nunes, from Jan. 1, 2018 to March 18
- Mair’s tax returns dating back to 2016 and a report of her assets and liabilities
- Any communications between Mair or her company that mention Nunes
I mean, almost any one of those is crazy. The identity of anyone Twitter has done business with in Virginia since 2014? Any time a Twitter employee has been present in Virginia? Come on. Obviously, some of those are incredibly weak attempts to show why the case deserves to be in Virginia, but that's not how any of this is supposed to work.
Hopefully the judge sees this for what it is and dumps the whole thing.
For what it's worth, the article does note that the two parody accounts, Devin Nunes' Cow (@DevinCow) and Devin Nunes' Mom (@DevinNunesMom) are both unrepresented in the case:
The parody accounts did not have legal representation, though about 20 people sat in the courtroom in support of @DevinCow, sporting cow shirts, signs, stuffed animals and, in one case, a pair of cow ears.
It's possible that Nunes hasn't even served the two parody accounts yet, which could explain why they don't have lawyers in court yet.
Either way, one hopes that the judge recognizes this case for what it is: a frivolous, speech suppressing, unconstitutional fishing expedition by an apparently hypocritical, thin-skinned Rep. Devin Nunes -- who pretends to be in favor of free speech and against frivolous lawsuits -- and throws out the case entirely.
Filed Under: california, defamation, devin nunes, devin nunes cow, devin nunes mom, discovery, fishing expedition, liz mair, nunes cow, parody, virginia
Companies: twitter
