Former Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore filed a $40 million lawsuit against the Washington Examiner alleging their coverage of the sexual misconduct allegations against him was “fake news.”
Moore filed the lawsuit on Monday against the conservative outlet, its owners, and multiple writers and editors seeking $10 million for damaging Moore’s reputation and causing emotional distress and more than $30 million in punitive damages.
The complaint argues that Moore “gave notice” to the outlet one of its op-eds was “highly defamatory and filled with 'factual inaccuracies' and 'outright falsehoods' to include accusations of attempted 'rape,' 'picking up teen girls,' a 'mall ban,' and that a 'handful of other women independently alleged having intimate relationships with Moore in their teens.'”
The lawsuit claimed the reporting damaged Moore’s reputation, even though the allegations were covered by every major news outlet.
“(Moore) has been materially detrimented by defendants’ actions,” the lawsuit said. “He has suffered losses of speaking engagements resulting in a loss of income, losses of invitations to events, losses of job opportunities, personal and professional embarrassment, mental anguish and emotional distress.”
Moore lawsuit against Washi... by pgattis7719 on Scribd
Examiner called Moore “accused sexual assailant”:
The lawsuit came in response to an op-ed by Tiana Lowe, who called Moore an “accused sexual assailant and pedophile” who was “famous for being banned from a mall because he preyed on underage girls.”
Lowe also referred to Moore as a “comic book villain” and a “skunk.”
The op-ed was published last year after Moore announced he would run for Senate again after becoming the first Republican to lose a statewide election in Alabama in decades.
Moore cries fake news:
“Like the people of Alabama, I am sick and tired of ‘fake news’ by media organizations which pretend to print the truth but in reality, are politically and philosophically motivated to distort the true facts for their own ends,” Moore said in a statement. “Unlike some who choose to suffer in silence, I have decided to fight back!”
Moore has also sued five other groups who spread the allegations against him but faces a steep climb in proving defamation.
