Devin Nunes leaving Congress early to take CEO job at Trump’s new media business

Nunes was chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

(Getty Images)

Republican Rep Devin Nunes of California, a longtime ally of former president Donald Trump, will leave Congress at the end of the month to serve as CEO for the former president’s new media venture.

Trump Media & Technology Group, known also as TMTG, announced Mr Nunes’s arrival in a news release on Monday evening.

“Congressman Devin Nunes is a fighter and a leader,” Mr Trump said in a statement. “He will make an excellent CEO of TMTG. Devin understands that we must stop the liberal media and Big Tech from destroying the freedoms that make America great. America is ready for TRUTH Social and the end to censorship and political discrimination."

The Fresno-area Republican was chairman of the House Intelligence Committee for the first two years of Mr Trump’s presidency. He also served on then-president-elect Trump’s transition team after he stayed neutral throughout the Republican primary in 2016.

“The time has come to reopen the Internet and allow for the free flow of ideas and expression without censorship,” he said. “The United States of America made the dream of the Internet a reality and it will be an American company that restores the dream. I'm humbled and honored President Trump has asked me to lead the mission and the world class team that will deliver on this promise.”

Mr Nunes became one of Mr Trump’s most vociferous defenders on the House Intelligence Committee amid investigations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

During one audio recording at the time, Mr Nunes could be heard telling Republicans that if then-Attorney Jeff Sessions didn’t recuse himself and special counsel Robert Mueller did not clear the president, then the GOP majority would be the only thing protecting Mr Trump. At one point, Mr Trump admitted he gave his attorney general permission to share classified information with Mr Nunes.

He continued in the role of the president’s attack dog after Democrats took the majority in 2018. During Mr Trump’s first impeachment, he postulated that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that intervened in the 2016 presidential election. During impeachment hearings, call logs from Mr Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani revealed that Mr Nunes was in contact with the Trump team and with an indicted suspect.

In exchange, Mr Trump rewarded Mr Nunes and bestowed upon him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

TMGT is already facing scrutiny after it announced it would merge with Digital World Acquisition Corporation, which is a SPAC, or Special Purpose Acquisition Company, and subsequently, its value spiked. On Monday, an Securities and Exchange Commission filing by representatives of Digital World Acquisition Corporation revealed that officials SEC asked for “documents relating to meetings of DWAC’s Board of Directors, policies and procedures relating to [stock] trading, the identification of banking, telephone, and email addresses, the identities of certain investors, and certain documents.”

The SEC officials also reportedly requested communications between Digital World Acquisition Corporation executives and TMGT representatives.