Conservative podcaster Tim Pool is suing Kamala Harris‘ presidential campaign for allegedly claiming that he was advocating a Donald Trump dictatorship.
In a lawsuit filed in a West Virginia federal court on Tuesday, Pool claims that the Harris campaign falsely said that he backed the Project 2025 plan to put Donald Trump in the White House. It also states that the Harris campaign claimed Pool was advocating the execution of political enemies.
The legal action followed a post by the Harris campaign on X, formerly Twitter, over the Labor Day weekend.
Kamala Harris answers questions from members of the National Association of Black Journalists on September 17, 2024, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Conservative podcaster Tim Pool is suing the Harris campaign for defamation.
Win McNamee/Getty Images
Pool is seeking millions of dollars in compensation and claims that he has had to increase security as a result of the Harris campaign’s online comments.
“What the Harris campaign published was, and is, a lie. Mr Pool had never advocated for the lawless, extrajudicial killing of his (or anyone else’s) political opponents,” Pool’s attorney, James Lawrence, said in the filing.
Newsweek sought email comment from Pool and the Harris campaign on Wednesday.
The post allegedly claimed that Pool supported Project 2025, a plan by conservatives to get right wing supporters employed in every branch of government. Trump has claimed that he has nothing to do with the project and has never read it.
Lawrence also said that: “In a post to the social media platform X, which has now been viewed more than 12 million times, the Harris Campaign stated Mr Pool is promoting a ‘plan to give [former President] Trump total, unchecked legal power so they can jail and execute those who don’t support Trump if he wins.'”
“The Harris Campaign did not hedge this statement or couch it as opinion. To the contrary, to any reasonable reader, the Harris campaign was saying that Mr Pool wants to suspend the Constitution, make President Trump dictator and use state power to imprison and kill Mr Pool and President Trump’s political opponents.”
He added that the damage will cost millions of dollars.
“The reputational harm the Harris campaign inflicted on Mr Pool will take millions of dollars to undo. At the same time, Mr Pool is ramping up his security efforts as a shield against those who bought the Harris Campaign’s lie and might seek to do him, and those he cares about, harm.”
“To paraphrase President Biden, with this suit, Mr Pool is stepping out of the shadow the Harris campaign cast over him while shining the light on falsehoods designed to defame and further inflame our political discourse. Mr Pool cannot – and will not – remain silent,” the lawsuit adds.
It also says that Pool welcomes debate from across the political spectrum, including from the Harris campaign, and that he has spent millions of dollars advertising in New York to encourage comment from people who disagree with his views.
