Gov. Abbott mega-donor Kelcy Warren sues Democrat Beto O'Rourke for defamation

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Kelcy is trying to silence Beto. Kelcy is using TRG and a Russin oligarch;s law frim

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https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/Gov-Abbott-mega-donor-Kelcy-Warren-sues-Democrat-16984193.php

The chairman of the board of directors of one of the nation’s biggest pipeline companies, who is also a major donor to Gov. Greg Abbott, is suing Democrat Beto O’Rourke for defamation, slander, and libel for criticizing his company’s actions in the 2021 Texas winter storm and referring to his subsequent $1 million donation to Abbott as “pretty close to a bribe.”

Kelcy Warren, chairman of the board at the gas pipeline company Energy Transfer Partners, filed suit against O’Rourke in San Saba County seeking more than $1 million in damages. The lawsuit alleges that O’Rourke is trying to “publicly humiliate Warren and discourage others from contributing to Gov. Abbott’s campaign.”.....

Warren’s attorneys include other O’Rourke statements in the lawsuit, along with videos of him recounting stories of Texans who died during the storm while giant companies made profits.

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.....The grid failures are a key issue for O’Rourke as he tries to make the case that Abbott should be fired as the leader of state government. In campaign ads and speeches, O’Rourke has faulted Abbott for not acting sooner to protect the grid despite years of warnings. And he’s blasted Abbott for not doing enough to make sure last year’s crisis is not repeated.

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1. Here is a link to the pleadings in this lawsuit-kelcy is represented by lawyer for TFG and Russian

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Here is an interesting article on this law firm https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/trumps-lawyer-in-russia-probe-has-clients-with-kremlin-ties/2017/06/09/5dba9518-4d4a-11e7-a186-60c031eab644_story.html

The hard-charging New York lawyer President Trump chose to represent him in the Russia investigation has prominent clients with ties to the Kremlin, a striking pick for a president trying to escape the persistent cloud that has trailed his administration.

Marc E. Kasowitz’s clients include Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch who is close to President Vladimir Putin and has done business with Trump’s former campaign manager. Kasowitz also represents Sberbank, Russia’s largest state-owned bank, U.S. court records show.

Kasowitz has represented one of Deripaska’s companies for years in a civil lawsuit in New York and was scheduled to argue on the company’s behalf May 25, two days after news broke that Trump had hired him, court records show. A different lawyer in Kasowitz’s firm showed up in court instead, avoiding a scenario that would have highlighted Kasowitz’s extensive work for high-profile Russian clients

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2. So...how is it defamation when the truth is spoken?

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3. A Billionaire Is Suing Beto, What Comes Next?

This lawsuit is really sad. The lawyer who filed this lawsuit is the Kasowitz firm that is not known for First Amendment issues but is known for representing TFG and Russian Oligarch. The Houston office of this firm is mainly employment litigators

To win this lawsuit, Kelcy needs to prove that Beto made a statement of fact that Beto knew was false. The complained statements are statement of opinions, and you can sue for this

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On Monday, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke made headlines when he announced at a campaign event that a billionaire was going to file a lawsuit against him. Sure enough, a defamation lawsuit against O’Rourke was filed in San Saba County later that day.

The man bringing the lawsuit against O’Rourke is Kelcy Warren, the co-founder and current Chairman of the Board of Directors at Energy Transfer Partners, one of the largest oil and gas companies in the world. His lawsuit is seeking damages against O’Rourke for defamation, slander, and libel.....

“There have to be very clear misstatements of fact, if there are merely opinions, generally speaking, they are not going to be actionable as defamation,” said Shavin. The standard of the law applies even further to a public official, according to Shavin. “It’s not enough just to prove it’s false or defamatory, it’s got to be proven that it was made with actual malice.”....

Shavin pointed to a Texas case to describe the very high bar for meeting defamation: Carr v. Brasher. In that case, the Texas Supreme Court denied rehearing a case from Lynn Brasher, the former mayor of South Houston, against his election opponent (and new mayor) Al Thiel and Walter Carr, a campaign aide who authored campaign brochures. Brasher alleged that Carr committed libel for some of those campaign brochures for an election in 1985. Some of the allegations raised in those brochures included “payoffs” Brasher made to bookkeepers. The defense for Thiel and Carr rested on the absence of “malice” in the accusation.

This lawsuit will be fun to watch

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4. Beto denies Kelcy Warren's defamation allegations and moves to change venue to El Paso County

Chadd Dunn is a great attorney who won the Texas voter id case a while back.

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