Devin Nunes to Quit House, Take Over Trump's Media Company

Politics|Devin Nunes Will Quit the House to Take Over Trump’s Media Company

WASHINGTON — Representative Devin Nunes, a California Republican who emerged arsenic 1 of erstwhile President Donald J. Trump’s astir loyal and pugnacious allies, announced connected Monday that helium would resign from Congress aft 19 years to go the main enforcement serviceman of Mr. Trump’s caller media and exertion company.

Mr. Nunes faced astir intolerable likelihood successful being re-elected to the Central Valley territory that his household has farmed for 3 generations. A caller representation emerging from an autarkic citizens’ redistricting committee was astir definite to flip it from a territory Mr. Trump won handily to 1 President Biden would person won.

But governmental analysts and politicians successful the territory had predicted that Mr. Nunes — who was the chairman, past the apical Republican connected the House Intelligence Committee during the Trump medication — would leap to a recently created, Republican-friendly district. That would person allowed him to proceed his legislature vocation and presume the helm of the almighty Ways and Means Committee if Republicans took power of the House, arsenic they are favored to do.

Mr. Nunes’s determination to instrumentality implicit Mr. Trump’s fledgling media enterprise alternatively of the influential House sheet that writes taxation and wellness attraction argumentation signals wherever helium thinks powerfulness lies successful the Republican Party and the blimpish movement.

“Recently, I was presented with a caller accidental to combat for the astir important issues I judge in,” Mr. Nunes wrote successful a missive to his constituents, saying helium would permission the House astatine the extremity of the year, good earlier the extremity of his term.

Mr. Trump, successful a quality merchandise from the Trump Media & Technology Group, called his caller main enforcement “a combatant and a leader.”

“Devin understands that we indispensable halt the wide media and large tech from destroying the freedoms that marque America great,” helium said successful a statement.

Mr. Nunes was erstwhile a trusted lieutenant of Speaker John A. Boehner, a Republican loyalist who clashed fiercely and publically with the ardent conservatives successful the House Freedom Caucus. Those Freedom Caucus rebels went connected to go the vanguard of Mr. Trump’s takeover of the Republican Party, and Mr. Nunes followed suit.

From his perch connected the Intelligence Committee, helium ran interference for Mr. Trump against accusations that his 2016 run had collaborated with Russian intelligence. Mr. Nunes besides organized a agreed Republican beforehand opposing the archetypal impeachment of the president for withholding subject assistance to Ukraine to unit its authorities to excavation up ungraded connected Mr. Biden.

Mr. Nunes besides waged nationalist fights against the quality media and his critics, suing The Washington Post, CNN, The Fresno Bee and Twitter implicit perceived slights, and going aft Twitter successful efforts to unmask the writer of a mocking account ostensibly written by his cow. (His household runs a dairy operation.)

Phil Arballo, the Democrat who ran against Mr. Nunes past twelvemonth and is again moving for the spot successful 2022, said helium had expected his hostile to chopped and tally connected the district, which according to an emerging representation would see overmuch much of municipality Fresno portion losing Republican strongholds to the east.

“What we cognize astir Devin is he’s not going to enactment for anything,” Mr. Arballo said successful an interrogation earlier the announcement connected Monday.