Former Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., explained more about his decision to join former President Donald Trump’s new social media company, saying he sees it as a continuation of his public service.
“I still see what I am doing as a public service—it is not political, but it is public service,” Nunes told Fox News.
“This has to be done,” he continued. “This is the most important issue at the highest level. It is really serious what we’re doing. Millions of Americans and people around the globe are counting on us to get this done and get it done right.”
Nunes resigned from Congress this month to join the Trump Media & Technology Group as the company’s CEO. The company plans to unroll several different social-media platforms on President’s Day. That will include “TRUTH Social,” an alternative to Twitter, as well as a podcast platform.
TMTG will launch with a “three-pronged approach,” Nunes said.
“You have TRUTH Social platform, but we are also heavily looking at streaming and having a streaming service, and that is in development right now,” Nunes added. “We are also looking at how do we deliver the news to people. That is more conceptual right now.”
Nunes’s decision not to run for reelection came after drafts of California’s redistricting map indicated he would either have to run in a different district or stay in a district that had been heavily gerrymandered.
However, Nunes said he had been “flirting with technology” even before California Democrats made his chances of reelection slimmer.
“It was hard for me to say no because it is the issue I have been most passionate about over the last few years,” he said. “You would have to be hiding under a rock to not know my frustration with these Big Tech companies.”
Nunes—who unsuccessfully attempted to sue Twitter over so-called parody accounts that defamed his mother and other family members—is one of many Republicans who has been vocal about taking on Big Tech.
“I was the first to be shadow-banned on Twitter. I was the first one to go to Parler and be on the website and app,” he explained. “This has long been a problem.”