Republican Devin Nunes to leave Congress and run Trump’s social media venture –

Shortly after Devin Nunes announced his retirement, the Trump Media & Technology Group announced that the congressman would become the venture’s chief executive officer.

In a statement, Nunes said: “The time has come to reopen the Internet and allow for the free flow of ideas and expression without censorship.”

The congressman has long claimed without evidence that social media companies have been trying to censor Republicans. In his lawsuit against Twitter, he claimed he had endured “an orchestrated defamation campaign, one that no human being should ever have to bear and suffer in their whole life”. The suit also accused Twitter of censoring “viewpoints with which it disagrees” by shadow banning conservatives.

The parody accounts pretending to be the congressman’s cow and his mother mocked him over revelations that his family had moved its farm to Iowa from California long before he used his agricultural roots as part of his campaign in central California.

Later, the Trump justice department subpoenaed Twitter for information related to a parody account that criticized Nunes, federal court records revealed – even though a judge ruled that the representative could not sue the social media company.

The Republican congressman Devin Nunes of California announced his retirement from the House. He wrote in a letter to constituents that he is leaving his position as a representative in order to pursue a “new opportunity to fight for the most important issues I believe in”

“I’m writing to let you know I’ve decided to pursue this opportunity, and therefore I will be leaving the House of Representatives at the end of 2021,” Nunes wrote.

Nunes, 48, has served as a congressman since 2003. He was a member of the Intelligence Committee during Donald Trump’s first impeachment and has been a staunch ally of the former president.

Nunes is also infamous for suing Twitter over mocking tweets from accounts called themselves “Devin Nunes’ Mom” and “Devin Nunes’ Cow”, and then being informed that he cannot sue the parody accounts for defamation.

Andrew Roth in Moscow and Julian Borger in Washington:

The US has said it would send reinforcements to Nato’s eastern flank in the wake of a Russian…