Representative Devin Nunes, a fervent supporter of Donald Trump, is quitting Congress to head the former president’s new media startup, the company announced Monday.
Nunes, a California Republican, will become chief executive officer of the Trump Media & Technology Group in January, the company said in a statement. Trump announced the formation of the new company in October. The former president, currently banned on major social media platforms, plans to start a Twitter-like outlet called Truth Social.
Nunes’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Nor did he answer calls or text messages.
In a statement from his office published by The Fresno Bee in his district, Nunes said that he will miss representing the area and thanked his constituents.
“Rest assured, I have not, by any means, given up our collective fight—I’ll just be pursuing it through other means,” he said in the statement, according to the Fresno Bee.
Nunes, 48, was a member of the House Intelligence Committee when Congress was investigating possible campaign help for Trump from Russia and staunchly defended the former president.
Currently in his 10th term in the House, Nunes would have been in line to head the powerful Ways & Means Committee if Republicans win control of the U.S. House in the 2022 elections.
House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy tweeted that Nunes’s departure “leaves a gaping hole in this institution.”
Nunes possibly faced a more challenging path to re-election. Draft maps by the California Citizens Redistricting Commission showed Nunes’ district going from one that voted for Trump to one that overwhelmingly turned out for Biden last year.
The announcement came on the same day that Digital World Acquisition Corp., the blank-check company merging with Trump’s new media firm, disclosed that it has received information requests from U.S. Regulators.
The Securities and Exchange Commission in early November sought records tied to meetings involving Digital World’s board of directors, its policies and procedures related to trading and the identities of certain investors, the company said in a Monday regulatory filing.
Digital World said the information requests do not mean the regulators have determined any rules have been violated.
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