Sarah Palin Suing ‘The New York Times’ For Tying Her Ads To Mass Shootings

Former vice presidential candidate and Alaska governor Sarah Palin is suing the New York Times for defamation.

SARAH PALIN SUING THE NEW YORK TIMES

Palin claims are over an editorial published by the Times that linked her political action committee ads to the mass shooting that severely wounded then-Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday, and said the newspaper “violated the law and its own policies” when it accused Palin of inciting the 2011 attack that took six lives.

The suit refers to a June piece about the recent shooting of Louisiana Congressman Steve Scalise, which was later corrected. Speaking about previous politically motivated shootings, the Times wrote: “Before the shooting, Sarah Palin’s political action committee circulated a map that showed the targeted electoral districts of Ms. Giffords and 19 other Democrats under stylized cross hairs. But in that case no connection to the shooting was ever established.”

The Washington Post Fact Checker backed up Palin’s claim. “We’re glad to see this fixed in the editorial, but it’s not a good sign that the debunked talking point was included as fact in the editorial of a major media outlet,” it said.

Palin is seeking damages. A spokeswoman for the Times, Danielle Rhoades Ha, says while the paper hasn’t seen the lawsuit, they will defend any claim against it aggressively.