1. Devin Nunes was a member of President Donald Trump's first transition team.
86 Facts About Devin Nunes
1. 2.
In March 2017, the US House intelligence committee, which Devin Nunes chaired at the time, launched an investigation into possible Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.
3.
In February 2018, Devin Nunes publicly released a four-page memorandum alleging an FBI conspiracy against Trump.
4.
Devin Nunes subsequently began an investigation of the FBI and the US Justice Department for allegedly abusing their powers in an attempt to hurt Trump.
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Devin Nunes's family operated their farm in California until 2006, when they sold the property and purchased a dairy in Sibley, Iowa.
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Devin Nunes is of three-quarters Portuguese descent, with ancestors emigrating from the Azores to California.
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In 2009, Devin Nunes wrote in The Wall Street Journal that he became an entrepreneur at age 14 when he bought seven head of young cattle, learning quickly how to profit from his investment.
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In 1996, at age 23, Devin Nunes was elected to the College of the Sequoias Board, making him one of California's youngest community college trustees in state history.
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In 2001, President George W Bush appointed Nunes to serve as California State Director for the United States Department of Agriculture's Rural Development section.
10.
In 1998, Devin Nunes entered the "top two" primary race for California's 20th congressional district seat held by Democrat Cal Dooley.
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In 2002, Devin Nunes ran for the Republican nomination in the 21st congressional district, a new district created by reapportionment after the 2000 United States census.
12.
Devin Nunes was the only major candidate from Tulare County; Patterson and Briggs were both from Fresno.
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Devin Nunes was helped by a strong showing in the rural part of the district.
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Devin Nunes was endorsed by the California Farm Bureau and The Fresno Bee.
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The district was solidly Republican, and Devin Nunes coasted to victory in November 2002.
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Devin Nunes faced token Democratic opposition in 2004,2006, and 2008.
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In 2018, Devin Nunes faced Democratic nominee Andrew Janz, a Fresno County prosecutor.
18.
Devin Nunes defeated Phil Arballo in the general election on November 3,2020.
19.
In 2015, Devin Nunes became the Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
20.
Devin Nunes was a member of the House Baltic Caucus and the US-Japan Caucus.
21.
Former Trump campaign CEO and chief strategist Steve Bannon has called Devin Nunes Trump's second-strongest ally in Congress.
22.
Devin Nunes criticized the federal government for shutting off portions of California's system of water irrigation and storage and diverting water into a program for freshwater salmon and the delta smelt.
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Devin Nunes co-sponsored the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley Emergency Water Delivery Act to stop a project designed to restore a dried-up section of the San Joaquin River.
24.
Devin Nunes has long been a proponent of a consumption tax model and has been influenced by David Bradford.
25.
Devin Nunes's proposal was influential among House Republicans, and had similarities to the House Republican tax plan introduced by Speaker Paul Ryan and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady in June 2016.
26.
Conservative economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin said Devin Nunes had "a tremendous impact on the debate" for a non-chairman.
27.
Devin Nunes voted in support of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.
28.
In 2009, Devin Nunes co-authored the "Patients' Choice Act" with Paul Ryan in the House, and Tom Coburn and Richard Burr in the Senate.
29.
Devin Nunes opposes the Affordable Care Act and has said it cannot be fixed.
30.
Devin Nunes supported President Trump's Executive Order 13769 imposing a temporary ban on entry into the United States by citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, claiming it was "a common-sense security measure to prevent terror attacks on the homeland".
31.
Devin Nunes opposed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, an international agreement that the US and other major world powers negotiated with Iran, under which Iran was granted partial sanctions relief in exchange for limits on and monitoring of its nuclear activities.
32.
Ryan asked Devin Nunes to stay on the Intelligence Committee, and Devin Nunes complied.
33.
Devin Nunes has a "D" rating from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws for his voting history on cannabis-related causes.
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In January 2019, Congress passed a bill Devin Nunes supported, which extends Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act until 2023, and Trump signed it into law that month.
35.
Devin Nunes lauded the bill's passing: "The House of Representatives has taken a big step to ensure the continuation of one of the Intelligence Community's most vital tools for tracking foreign terrorists".
36.
In 2015, Devin Nunes clashed with the Pentagon over a US base in the Azores, Portugal.
37.
Devin Nunes proposed relocating Africa Command and European Command intelligence centers to the Azores, contrary to plans by Pentagon and NATO to create a larger intelligence "fusion" facility in the United Kingdom, maintaining that this would save money because of the Azores' lower living and construction costs.
38.
Later, Devin Nunes walked back his comments and claimed that he had encouraged people to use drive-throughs.
39.
Devin Nunes said he wanted people to return to work in one to two weeks.
40.
On March 17,2020, Devin Nunes told Laura Ingraham on Fox News that the media was exaggerating the threat of COVID-19.
41.
Devin Nunes predicted that the crisis would be over by Easter.
42.
Devin Nunes's criticisms have not been limited to liberals or the Obama administration.
43.
In May 2014, Devin Nunes came under fire when he charged that Michigan Congressman and fellow Republican Justin Amash was "al-Qaeda's best friend in Congress" because of Amash's supposed voting record on National Security Agency surveillance.
44.
In February 2017, Devin Nunes, who served on the Trump transition team, was the first leading House Republican to deny that the intelligence community had evidence of contact between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives.
45.
Devin Nunes rejected repeated calls for an investigation by a select committee, saying the House should not engage in a "witch hunt" and that "at this point, there's nothing there".
46.
Devin Nunes rejected calls that he request President Trump's tax returns.
47.
At a White House communications aide's request, Devin Nunes spoke to a reporter for The Wall Street Journal to challenge a story about the Trump campaign's connections to Russia.
48.
Devin Nunes added that it was legal FISA surveillance, and unrelated to Russia.
49.
Devin Nunes had met his source for the information one day earlier at the White House grounds, with a spokesman for Devin Nunes claiming this provided "a secure location" to view the material.
50.
Devin Nunes was widely criticized for sharing this information with the media and the president before briefing his colleagues on the committee.
51.
Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the committee, and House Democratic leadership called on Devin Nunes to recuse himself from the investigation.
52.
Devin Nunes received criticism from Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham.
53.
Devin Nunes was criticized by Democrats and some Republicans for sharing information on an investigation of the Trump campaign with the administration without communicating it to Schiff, his Democratic Intelligence Committee counterpart.
54.
In late March 2017, Devin Nunes canceled a public hearing in which former acting Attorney General Sally Yates, former National Security Agency Director James Clapper and former CIA Director John Brennan were to testify, saying he wanted to hear FBI Director James Comey and National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers in a classified setting first.
55.
Devin Nunes called the charges "entirely false and politically motivated".
56.
In May 2017, Devin Nunes unilaterally issued three subpoenas seeking documents about former Obama administration officials who requested the unmasking of Trump aides, which led to renewed accusations of colluding with the White House to undercut the Russia probe.
57.
In February 2018, Devin Nunes released a four-page memorandum alleging that the FBI's 2016 surveillance of Carter Page, a former member of the Trump campaign, was motivated by bias against Trump.
58.
Devin Nunes used most of the allotted Republican time for questioning himself instead of deferring to the Minority Counsel.
59.
Devin Nunes has tried to identify the whistle-blower whose complaint played a part in launching the impeachment inquiry.
60.
In November 2019, Rudy Giuliani's associate Lev Parnas said he had helped Devin Nunes arrange meetings with Ukrainian officials in efforts to procure politically embarrassing "dirt" on former Vice President Joe Biden.
61.
On November 24,2019, Devin Nunes alleged in an interview with Fox News that CNN and the Daily Beast had committed crimes reporting on his trips to Europe and that he would pursue legal action against the news organizations for reporting the stories.
62.
That same day, CNBC reported that Lev Parnas was willing to testify under oath in Congress that Devin Nunes's aides called off a 2019 trip to Ukraine to dig up more dirt on Joe Biden when they realized he would have to report the trip to Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff.
63.
Devin Nunes, who co-sponsored the "Discouraging Frivolous Lawsuits Act", has a long history of filing frivolous lawsuits.
64.
On December 4,2019, Nunes sued CNN for alleged defamation in Nunes v CNN, seeking $435,350,000 in damages for their reporting of Parnas's lawyer's statement.
65.
That month, an attorney for Devin Nunes sent a letter to congressman Ted Lieu threatening to sue over Lieu's comments about Devin Nunes's relationship with Parnas.
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Two days later, Devin Nunes acknowledged he had spoken to Parnas, after previously suggesting he had not.
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Devin Nunes has filed multiple lawsuits characterized as Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation.
68.
Between 2019 and 2023, Devin Nunes has filed at least 11 defamation suits; many have been dismissed, others have been voluntarily dropped by Devin Nunes.
69.
Kathryn Watson of CBS News said the filing was "particularly interesting" because in 2018 Devin Nunes supported the "Discouraging Frivolous Lawsuits Act".
70.
The report said it was "unclear" whether Devin Nunes "was aware of the lawsuit" or involved in the fund-raising event at the yacht.
71.
Devin Nunes did not attend the party, nor was he mentioned in the lawsuit.
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Devin Nunes said the article was politically motivated and improperly linked him to the fund-raiser.
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Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute said the report did not say or imply that Devin Nunes was at the party.
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The activists had argued that Devin Nunes's parents had long ago moved the family dairy farm to Iowa and Devin Nunes himself had no apparent farming connection left other than a small investment in a friend's Napa valley winery.
75.
In September 2019, Devin Nunes sued political journalist Ryan Lizza and Hearst Magazines, the publisher of Esquire, alleging that a 2018 Esquire story had damaged his reputation.
76.
Lizza wrote that Devin Nunes's family had "secretly" moved its dairy operation from California to Iowa in 2007.
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Devin Nunes did not specifically contest the veracity of Lizza's reporting, but claimed he "fabricated a 'secret' where none existed".
78.
In September 2019, Devin Nunes sued the liberal nonprofit Campaign for Accountability and the opposition research firm Fusion GPS.
79.
On December 4,2019, Devin Nunes sued CNN for alleged defamation, seeking $435,350,000 in damages for their reporting of Parnas's lawyer's statement.
80.
The suit alleges that CNN reported that Devin Nunes traveled to Vienna in December 2018, and met with Viktor Shokin, the former Ukrainian prosecutor general, about investigating Joe Biden.
81.
The suit claims this is untrue and that Devin Nunes was in Benghazi, followed by Malta.
82.
On November 19,2022, Devin Nunes filed a defamation suit in the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida, alleging that several statements made on CNN on October 31,2022, were defamatory.
83.
Devin Nunes appealed the decision, which was denied on May 22,2023, because his attorneys failed to respond to notices from the appellate court.
84.
Devin Nunes married Elizabeth Devin Nunes, an elementary school teacher, in 2003.
85.
Devin Nunes is a practicing Catholic, and attends Mass in Tulare.
86.
Devin Nunes wrote a foreword for the 2012 edition of the 1951 novel Home Is An Island by Portuguese-American author Alfred Lewis.