Democrats are acting like they can say things with impunity; you can’t. I’m a free speech extremist, folks—but there are apparent legal ramifications when you accuse someone of sexual impropriety when they have not committed any such act ever.
On Tuesday, Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA) smeared Matt Taibbi, an independent liberal journalist, during a House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee hearing. She labeled him a serial sexual harasser. It was a blatant attempt to discredit Taibbi’s work, which has been brutal in exposing the censorship industrial complex within our national media and social media apparatuses. Taibbi is used to the heat—he was the subject of an IRS audit after a previous trip to the Hill to deliver testimony on the Twitter Files.
After this, Republicans gave Matt Taibbi time to defend himself.
— Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove (@RepKamlagerDove) April 1, 2025
It’s telling that he didn’t. https://t.co/YNJe7ZRD3S
Well, what Ms. Dove said was false. Taibbi filed a $10 million defamation suit, as no woman has ever accused him of sexual harassment. "See you in court" was his response (via Racket News) [emphasis mine]:
No woman has ever accused me of engaging in sexual harrassment once, let alone serially.
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) April 3, 2025
See you in court.
Please do not evade service. https://t.co/pIUNYYWHg0 pic.twitter.com/fFFTcPqS3A
Sydney Kamlager-Dove, a Democrat representing California’s 37th district in Los Angeles, began her opening remarks in a House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee hearing Tuesday with a comment directed to me. “To distract from the dumpster fire this administration is pursuing,” she said, the Republicans were “elevating a serial sexual harasser as their star witness.”
[…]
One can however respond to a member arrogant enough to repeat those claims on social media. I’ve now done so, in the form of a $10 million libel lawsuit filed today in a New Jersey federal court:
Rep. Kamlager-Dove, no woman has ever accused me of engaging in sexual harassment once, let alone serially. See you in court. Please do not evade service.
Matt Taibbi just announced he filed a $10M libel lawsuit in federal court against this member over her false claims against him. https://t.co/eTIrH2d2DE
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) April 3, 2025
The articles do not back up any claim of sexual harassment. There is a reference to a chapter in a book I co-wrote that everyone involved, including the women in question, agree is fiction. I have never been accused of any kind of sexual indiscretion. https://t.co/U8vec81veG
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) April 3, 2025
Matt Taibbi just announced he filed a $10M libel lawsuit in federal court against this member over her false claims against him. https://t.co/eTIrH2d2DE
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) April 3, 2025
FAFO, lady.