“This week, President Trump announced that his campaign committee had sued the New York Times. The suit alleges that the Times defamed the President in a March 2019 article and thereby interfered in his upcoming re-election campaign.”
The lawsuit, according to Blankenship, “claims that the Times sought to damage the President’s campaign when it published an article in March of last year. The lawsuit claims that the Times article insinuated that the Trump campaign had cut a deal with the Russians. Specifically, the Trump campaign lawsuit says that the Times article is false when it says a deal was cut wherein the Russians would help President Trump defeat Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Blankenship continued, “as a prior candidate for a US Senate seat I can sympathize with the President, but his lawsuit pales in comparison to the one I have filed against the President’s son, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and dozens of national media outlets.”
The President’s son, his Republican colleagues, and his national media friends did not “insinuate” something that was false in order to interfere in my 2018 US Senate campaign. Instead, they repeatedly, openly, flagrantly, and falsely told West Virginia voters, as if it were news, that I had been convicted of a felony. They did so even though I have never been convicted of a felony.”
Blankenship continued, “President Trump is right to be concerned about media interference in elections via spreading falsehoods about candidates for federal offices. Lies told by the media clearly deprive Americans of fair and honest elections.”
“But the President needs to first tell his son, his Republican colleagues, and his friends at Fox that falsely calling a candidate for the US Senate a felon is wrong. Doing so in the days immediately before a federal Senate seat election is a much more transparent and a much more egregious act than the Times insinuating that the President cut a deal with the Russians.”
“The reason the Times article is less egregious is that the Russians ability to interfere in a US election by trolling on social media is limited. But the impact of Fox and the President’s son falsely claiming that a Senate candidate is a felon or went to prison for manslaughter is certain to sabotage any hope such Republican candidate has of winning a US Senate seat.”
Blankenship concluded, “As an American I will continue my efforts to expose government and media corruption. In a few weeks I will release a book about a horrendous government coverup. As President I will fight for fair and honest American elections. What I will not do is have my son or my supporters slander anyone, nor in anyway impede fair and honest American elections.”