Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin has filed a lawsuit against the New York Times for defamation after the paper published a column that falsely linked her to the Gabby Giffords shooting in 2011.
She is seeking a minimum of $75,000 in damages.
As the Political Insider reported, the Times published a column which inexplicably rewrote history on the mass shooting in Arizona to include a conspiracy theory that had been debunked within days of the attack.
The column revived the conspiracy theory that asserted ‘target maps’ used by Palin to focus on political opponents who needed to be voted out of office actually led to the shooting.
The Times was widely scorned for the piece …
Let me chime here to say: yeah, that’s nuts.
— Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) June 15, 2017
… and forced to issue a correction that didn’t remove the theory in whole.
Palin immediately pondered the notion of pursuing a case against the newspaper.
(1/2) @nytopinion – commonsense suggestion by a journalist, am talking to attorneys this AM and exploring options. BTW, wonder.. pic.twitter.com/jACvxwUBZH
— Sarah Palin (@SarahPalinUSA) June 15, 2017
(2/2) …WHY someone would no longer be in public eye? Think constant libel & slander have anything to do with it?
— Sarah Palin (@SarahPalinUSA) June 15, 2017
And now, she’s followed through on that threat.
Via the Daily Caller:
Sarah Palin is suing The New York Times for defamation, according to documents filed in federal court Tuesday that were obtained by The Daily Caller.
The lawsuit has to do with an editorial the NYT ran on June 14 that falsely smeared Palin as inciting the 2011 shooting of Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords by a mentally ill man. There is no evidence to support the NYT’s implication that Palin played a role in inciting the Giffords shooting.
“Mrs. Palin brings this action to hold The Times accountable for defaming her by publishing a statement about her that it knew to be false: that Mrs. Palin was responsible for inciting a mass shooting at a political event in January 2011,” Palin’s suit states.
Are you ready for some more bad news for the New York Times?
Palin’s lawyers, two of them anyway, represented Hulk Hogan in his high-profile mega lawsuit against Gawker that netted him over $140 million in damages when they published a sex tape.
Palin hired Hulk Hogan’s lawyer, the guy that just buried Gawker. . . https://t.co/uW3whbYSGR
— Ned Ryun (@nedryun) June 28, 2017
Looks like the Times might be in a bit of hot water, now that Hulk Hogan’s lawyers are running wild on them.
This is from the law firm’s website:
Brit Hume explains what the lawyers will need for their latest case involving Palin …
To win, she’d have to prove the Times knew what it said was false or acted in reckless disregard of truth. High bar https://t.co/yluIlP3oOV
— Brit Hume (@brithume) June 27, 2017
That shouldn’t be too hard to prove. Especially considering everybody who has ever heard of the Gabby Giffords shooting and the Palin targets knows the theory was put to rest long, long ago.
even way back in Jan 2011 we knew that Loughlin’s obsession began 3 years before the Palin map.https://t.co/9nJccuIQnb
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) June 15, 2017
When a CNN reporter calls you out for ‘fake news,’ you know you’ve really overstepped your bounds.
Do you support Sarah Palin’s lawsuit of the New York Times? Share your thoughts with us below!
