Boebert taking legal action over ‘outlandish’ claims

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) plans to sue a PAC for defamation after it made a series of wild claims about her without evidence — assertions that quickly spread online. The source of the claims is the American Muckrakers PAC, a group that was also behind the release of a number of salacious videos of Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) ahead of his May primary defeat. But while videos released showing Cawthorn were confirmed and verifiable, the PAC’s claims about Boebert are not. Some details have been directly refuted. “Muckrakers published these outlandish statements knowing they were fabricated but you likely operated under the inaccurate assumption that publishing false statements against a public figure would not create legal liability. This will be a costly miscalculation for Muckrakers, Wheeler and Muckrakers’ donors,” Jonathan Anderson, a lawyer for Boebert, wrote in a Wednesday letter to David Wheeler, the president and co-founder of the PAC. The letter was first reported by Fox News and shared with The Hill.

Boebert told the Washington Examiner that the allegations were “completely false,” “sexist” and “disgusting.” “This is very damaging, and that is why I’m going after this guy personally and his group with the full force of the law,” Boebert said. “I am not holding back, and I want to make sure that this never happens to anyone else again.” Wheeler is standing by the core parts of the claims, saying that he trusts his sources. But he also acknowledged problems with the initial report. “Some of what we put out was sloppy,” Wheeler told The Hill, but said “that does not undermine the credibility or validity” of what his sources have shared with him about Boebert. Among the claims made by the PAC are that Boebert worked as a paid escort to a wealthy man, and that she had two abortions, one in 2004 or 2005, and one in 2009. The PAC said it received this information from a “verified source close to this matter,” and provided heavily redacted screenshots of text messages from an unknown source as well as photos of Boebert. No other information was provided to back up the claims. “Falsely claiming the Congresswoman worked as a prostitute is a disgusting and sexist statement that, as you know, has zero basis in fact,” the letter from Anderson said.