Judge gives Devin Nunes the green light to sue NBC Universal for libel against MSNBC's Rachel Maddow

A district court judge for New York's Southern District has opened the door for former Republican lawmaker Devin Nunes to file a lawsuit against NBC Universal for his defamation claims against MSNBC's Rachel Maddow.

According to Mediaite, the ruling in Nunes' favor comes a year after his attempt to file the lawsuit over Maddow's remarks condemning him for his involvement with Andriy Derkach, a Ukrainian legislator now facing U.S. government sanctions for being an alleged Russian agent.

Per the news outlet: "The commentary relates to an incident back in 2019, when Nunes’ office received a package from Derkach while he was ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence."

READ MORE: Devin Nunes pushes absurd conspiracy theories about Obama and 'nude pictures of Trump' at impeachment hearing

On Tuesday, November 29, Judge P. Kevin Castel delivered his ruling which, according to the news outlet, stated that "the package 'was handled solely by Nunes’ staff and delivered, unopened, to the offices of the FBI. That same day, Nunes sent a letter to Attorney General William P. Barr advising him of the receipt of the package.'”

Nunes' claim is in reference to an MSNBC broadcast that aired back in March 2021 where Maddow discussed "a DNI report that said Derkach and others sought to use prominent Americans to “launder their narratives to US officials and audiences.”

During the segment, Maddow mentioned the package Nunes received from Derkach as she insisted that the former lawmaker “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' legal team argues that NBCUniversal was aware that he turned over the package to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Maddow's remarks were an effort to defame his character.

READ MORE: ‘You should be ashamed’: Nunes ripped for attacking impeachment witnesses in ‘lie-filled opening statement’

“MSNBC and Maddow had no source that had told them prior to publication of the Statements that Plaintiff had ‘refused’ to turn over the Derkach package to the FBI,” the complaint says It continues to state Maddow “provided no source for the defamatory Statements about Plaintiff because, in truth, Maddow fabricated the Statements, including the story that Plaintiff ‘refused’ to turn over the package to the FBI.”