Judge asked to toss Devin Nunes' 'baseless attack' lawsuit against paper designed to silence their reporting on him

McClatchy, the newspaper publishing company based in Sacramento that is being targeted in a lawsuit by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), has filed a motion with a state judge in Virginia asking for the case to be thrown out, according to Nunes' McClatchy-owned hometown newspaper, the Fresno Bee.

Ted Boutros, the attorney for McClatchy, argued that a case involving a California congressman suing a California publishing firm has no reason to be in a Virginia court. "Put simply, this case is Virginia-less."

The lawsuit, which McClatchy has denounced as a "baseless attack on local journalism," is one of several Nunes has brought against various activists and media companies who have criticized him, including CNN, Democratic activists, a political research firm that partnered with Hillary Clinton, and the owner of the satirical Twitter accounts "Devin Nunes' Cow" and "Devin Nunes' Mom."

The McClatchy suit stems from a report in the Fresno Bee about a lawsuit filed by an employee of a winery Nunes is invested in, who alleged that a charity yacht cruise held by the winery featured cocaine and prostitutes. How many of these lawsuits are being financed remains a mystery.

California has among the nation's strictest code of what are known as "anti-SLAPP laws," which allow defendants to sanction and recover court costs from plaintiffs if they file a frivolous suit for the express purpose of making people scared to engage in free speech against them. Virginia's anti-SLAPP statutes, by comparison, are weaker.

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