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| Photo Credit: AP. |
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) is planning to sue American Muckrakers PAC for making a swarm of “outlandish” claims against her. The group which was behind the release of a number of salacious videos of Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) ahead of his May primary defeat is facing possible defamation charges for making wild claims against her without evidence, The Hill reports
The difference between the two scenarios is that videos
released showing Cawthorn were confirmed and verifiable but that of Boebert are
not and most details have been directly refuted, according to The Hill.
“Muckrakers published these outlandish statements knowing
they were fabricated but you likely operated under the inaccurate assumption
that publishing false statements against a public figure would not create legal
liability. This will be a costly miscalculation for Muckrakers, Wheeler and
Muckrakers’ donors,” Jonathan Anderson, a lawyer for Boebert, wrote in a
Wednesday letter to David Wheeler, the president and co-founder of the PAC,
according to The Hill. The letter was first reported by Fox News and shared
with The Hill.
Boebert told the Washington Examiner that the allegations
were “completely false,” “sexist” and “disgusting,” according to The Hill
“This is very damaging, and that is why I’m going after this
guy personally and his group with the full force of the law,” Boebert said,
according to The Hill. “I am not holding back, and I want to make sure that
this never happens to anyone else again.”
Wheeler maintained that he trust his sources but
acknowledged problems with the initial report.
“Some of what we put out was sloppy,” Wheeler told The Hill,
but said “that does not undermine the credibility or validity” of what his
sources have shared with him about Boebert, adding that he clearly stands with
the core parts of the claims.
The PAC had claimed in its report that Boebert worked as a
paid escort to a wealthy man, and that she had two abortions, one in 2004 or 2005,
and one in 2009, a report which quickly spread online, The Hill reported.
The PAC said it received the information from what it called
“verified source close to this matter,” and provided heavily redacted
screenshots of text messages from an unknown source as well as photos of
boebert but did not provide any further information to back up the claims.
“Falsely claiming the
Congresswoman worked as a prostitute is a disgusting and sexist statement that,
as you know, has zero basis in fact,” the letter from Anderson said, according
to The Hill.
“To be clear, Rep. Boebert was pregnant with her first son
in 2004 and 2005 and he was born in 2005, she was pregnant with her third son
in 2008 and 2009 and he was born in 2009, and she has never had an abortion,”
Anderson said in the letter.