FILE - In this March 24, 2017, file photo, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington. Nunes is suing The McClatchy media chain for $150 million, saying a 2018 report about alleged cocaine use on a yacht related to a company he co-owns was character assassination. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
April 09, 2019 - 1:48 PM
SAN FRANCISCO - California congressman Devin Nunes is suing a media company for $150 million, saying it engaged in "character assassination" with a 2018 story that linked him to a yacht where prostitution allegedly took place.
A lawyer for Nunes, a central California Republican, filed the lawsuit against The McClatchy Co. and others in a Virginia court on Monday.
One of McClatchy's publications is The Fresno Bee, which reported on a 2016 lawsuit alleging prostitution and drug use on a yacht outing organized by a winery in which Nunes has a partnership stake. The lawsuit say Nunes was not on the yacht.
Nunes said he had nothing to do with the event.
McClatchy spokeswoman Jeanne Segal said Nunes' lawsuit is "wholly without merit."
Last month, Nunes sued Twitter and some of its users for more than $250 million, accusing them of defamation.
News from © The Associated Press, 2019