“I didn’t sue them because they exposed $77 million worth of misspending. He applauds them for doing that,” he said. “The suit is about defamation.”
And that this “puts the journalists in their proper place” is just a unintended coincidence. I hope other journalists in Mississippi wake up and show some backbone.
Well, their mistake was making public comments that he was guilty of embezzlement. There’s no real evidence of that, and he hasn’t been charged with anything. That’s not to say that he wasn’t involved, but unfortunately for the news organization those statements opened the door for this law suit.
It’s a bad look but he’s not governor anymore so it doesn’t really hurt him to sue them. He doesn’t even have to win. Hell, he doesn’t even have to get his case in front of a jury. If they turn over the documents the judge is asking for, it will do irreparable damage to their news organization.
Worth it
That’s easy for you to say when you’re not the one headed to jail
Well, the people putting her in jail… the judge, the prosecutor, those who spent that federal welfare money poorly… Karma is a BITCH
There is no prosecutor involved here. She is being civilly sued for defamation. She might go to jail if she defies a subpoena to turn over internal records that include confidential sources.
Overall it seems like the ex governor might actually have a leg to stand on in court, but the bar for defamation is high. I think it’s unlikely that, if this went to court, the ex governor would win. I expect this to be settled before actually being argued in court, though.
He was/is a public figure, I thought that made defamation a lot harder to claim?
He doesn’t have to prove jack shit if the judge is ordering them to turn over their internal documents as part of the case. The judge might look them over, decide there’s nothing relevant, and dismiss the case, but it won’t matter. The damage will already be done because sources will be less likely to trust them in the future.
You’re right, it does. He’s pretty unlikely to win in court, but lawyers are expensive. I expect they’ll reach a settlement just to avoid paying lawyers. Journalists aren’t known for having deep pockets to pay legal fees, unfortunately.
You just brought that up and I did a quick search says that Mississippi does not have any anti-SLAPP laws… That blows…
…what Karma are you even talking about?
