Democratic lawmaker dismisses GOP lawsuit threat: ‘Take your letter and shove it’

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) on Friday dismissed what he said was the threat of a lawsuit from fellow Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), telling a lawyer for Nunes to “shove it.”

The Democrat shared on Twitter the first page of a letter sent by Nunes’s counsel and dated Dec. 31 in which the lawyer cited the right to maintain an “unimpaired reputation.” The letter was mentioned by Lieu on Twitter earlier this week.

Lieu hinted in his response that the threat centered on his comments tying Nunes to Lev Parnas, a Soviet-born businessman and former associate of President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani who is at the heart of the impeachment proceedings.

“I received your letter dated December 31, 2019 in which you state your client Congressman Devin Nunes will sue me if I don’t, among other actions, issue a public apology to Devin Nunes,” Lieu wrote in his own letter dated Thursday. “It is true that I stated Congressman Nunes worked with Lev Parnas and conspired to undermine our own government.” 

“I welcome any lawsuit from your client and look forward to taking discovery of Congressman Nunes. Or, you can take your letter and shove it.” 

Attached is the first page of a five page letter in which the lawyer for @DevinNunes threatens that Rep Nunes will sue me.

Attached is my response. pic.twitter.com/bWAqdRhq97

— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) January 17, 2020

Lieu pointed to recent evidence released by the House in its impeachment investigation and Parnas’s MSNBC interview earlier this week, noting Parnas and Nunes communicated amid efforts by Trump allies to convince Ukraine to investigate his political rivals.

Neither Lieu nor Nunes immediately responded to requests for comment from The Hill on Friday evening.

Nunes has emerged as one of Trump’s top allies in the House from his perch as the top Republican on the Intelligence Committee, maintaining that the president acted appropriately in his dealings with Ukraine despite testimony from several current and former officials that they were alarmed by the president’s efforts to push Kyiv to conduct investigations desired by Trump.