California Rep. Devin Nunes will not seek reelection in 2022, and instead he will resign from Congress at the end of this year to join Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG).
The former president, who’s been banned on Twitter and Facebook, announced the launch in October of a social media platform that “encourages an open, free, and honest global conversation without discriminating against political ideology” while he continues to propound false charges about fraud in the presidential election, which he claims he won.
“Recently, I was presented with 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,” said Nunes in a message to his constituents.
“Rest assured, I have not, by any means, given up our collective fight — I’ll just be pursuing it through other means,” said the perfidious Republican politician, who released a four-page memorandum alleging an FBI conspiracy against Donald Trump after United States intelligence agencies discovered Russian interference in the 2016 elections.
A bipartisan report by the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee, which conducted a separate investigation into Russia, confirmed the assessment made by the top U.S. intelligence agencies following the 2016 vote.
The January 2017 unclassified assessment by the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the National Security Agency concluded Russia aimed to “undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process” as part of a plot approved and directed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
An investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, which Trump labeled as a “witch hunt,” likewise concluded last April that while there was no evidence to establish any coordination between the Kremlin and members of the Trump campaign, “the Russian government perceived it
Nunes, as chair of the House Intelligence Committee from 2015 to 2019, essentially parroted Trump’s lies about the FBI and the Justice Department allegedly abusing their powers in an attempt to hurt the President.
Nunes also defended Trump’s national security adviser Michael Flynn, who was forced to resign after it was revealed that he had misled Vice President Mike Pence about his communication with Russian officials. “From everything that I can see, his conversations with the Russian ambassador,” Nunes said of Flynn, “he was doing this country a favor, and he should be thanked for it.”
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham compared Nunes’ stumbling and bumbling to those of the comically incompetent fictional character Inspector Clouseau.
The new social media venture is already the subject of scandal, with two federal regulators asking for stock trading information and communications in separate corruption probes.
Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC) and TMTG entered into agreements to raise $1 billion from an unidentified group of investors but the company is under investigation by two federal regulators, which have asked for stock trading information and communications.
DWAC, a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), also known as a “blank check company”, disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing that it had received “certain preliminary, fact-finding inquiries” from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority in late October and early November regarding stock trading tied to the merger agreement announced Oct. 20.
Separately, the SEC asked for information related to meetings of the company’s board of directors, information on investors, and communications, according to the filing.
In December 2021, TMTG said it had raised $1 billion in private investment in public equity (PIPE) funding from unidentified investors. The expected proceeds of the PIPE and SPAC funding to the business would be $1.25 billion.
The SPAC may have violated securities laws and stock exchange rules since blank check companies are designed to hunt for a private business to take public but they are not allowed to have a target firm in mind prior to going public.
“A SPAC is a shell company with no operations. It proceeds in two stages,” said the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Corporation Finance Director John Coates. “In the first stage, it registers the offer and sale of redeemable securities for cash through a conventional underwriting, sells them primarily to hedge funds and other institutions, and places the proceeds in a trust for a future acquisition of a private operating company.”
The former president, who’s been banned on Twitter and Facebook, announced the launch of the social media platform in October.
The new venture announced it had entered into agreements to raise $1 billion from an unidentified group of investors.
Trump’s company was presented as a “media powerhouse” that can compete with a “liberal media consortium” and Big Tech companies, which he has accused of silencing conservative voices, according to a company presentation.
Nunes, 48, has served in the House since 2003 and currently represents California’s 22nd congressional district, which encompasses parts of Fresno and Tulare counties.
A draft map released by California Citizens Redistricting Commission shows that the new version of Nunes’ district has gotten considerably more competitive.
The company said the filing should not be construed as an indication that either agency has concluded anyone violated the law. Spokespeople for DWAC and Trump did not immediately respond Monday to requests for comment.
A special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) is a shell company that is set up to take a private company public by merging with it. They are called “blank check” companies because investors can purchase shares without knowing what business the SPAC will eventually acquire. For investors, the hope is that stock price will shoot up when an acquisition target is announced.
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