Chicago Business Litigation Lawyer Blog
When you’re a politician, your career is made or broken on your reputation. Donald Trump has been sued for defamation several times, with varying rates of success. Now his son, Donald Trump, Jr., is also being sued for defamation over allegations he made concerning another Republican candidate.
Don Blankenship was a Republican candidate for Senate in West Virginia in 2018, trying to unseat the incumbent, Joe Manchin III, who’s a Democrat. Trump and his allies opposed Blankenship in the primary, and their smear campaign included allegations that he’s a felon.
The allegations refer to an explosion at a mine run by Blankenship, and while felony charges were brought against him, he was only convicted of a misdemeanor. He was sentenced to 1 year in prison, which is the maximum penalty for a misdemeanor and could have caused some of the confusion leading to him being called a felon.
Blankenship also sued multiple media outlets for publishing the same misinformation, but those media outlets corrected their mistake as soon as it was brought to their attention. Trump Jr., on the other hand, doubled down and continued insisting Blankenship is a felon. The tweet he posted on May 3rd, 2018, calling Blankenship a felon was not deleted until late June of the same year, after Blankenship had already lost the primary, and long after Trump, Jr. had allegedly been made aware of the correction. Continue reading ›