Democrat radicalism knows no end. But what goes around, comes around.
And now a U.S. House Democrat has been slapped across the face with a huge $10 million lawsuit.
House Democrat Hit With Lawsuit Over Defamation Of Lauded Journalist Matt Taibbi
Independent journalist Matt Taibbi dropped a legal bombshell on Thursday, filing a $10 million libel lawsuit against Representative Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D., Calif.) in New Jersey federal court. The accusation? That the Democratic congresswoman falsely branded him a “serial s*xual harasser” during a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing on online censorship—and then doubled down by amplifying her smear across social media. This isn’t just a personal attack; it’s a textbook case of Democrats weaponizing unproven claims to silence dissent, and Taibbi isn’t letting it slide.
The lawsuit pulls no punches, alleging Kamlager-Dove’s statements were not only false but delivered with “actual malice—either with knowledge of their falsity or with reckless disregard for their truth.” Taibbi’s legal team argues that the congresswoman knowingly dredged up debunked allegations, recycling them for political points despite their flimsy foundation. It’s a move that reeks of desperation—and a willingness to trash a man’s reputation without evidence.
Kamlager-Dove kicked off the hearing by slamming Republicans for “elevating a serial s*xual harasser as their star witness.” Sure, her comments in the chamber might be shielded by the Speech and Debate Clause, but Taibbi’s suit zeroes in on what happened next. She didn’t stop at the podium—she posted a transcript of her remarks on her congressional website and pushed videos of her attack on X and Bluesky, a left-leaning social media haven. That, Taibbi contends, steps far outside her legislative sandbox and into actionable defamation territory.
On X and Bluesky, Kamlager-Dove gloated: “After this, Republicans gave Matt Taibbi time to defend himself. It’s telling that he didn’t.” The snide jab implies guilt by silence, a cheap rhetorical trick that conveniently ignores the facts. Taibbi’s lawsuit argues she either knew her claims were baseless or didn’t care, blasting them out to her followers with intent to wound. National Review reached out to her office for a response, but don’t hold your breath—Democrats rarely backpedal when caught in a lie.
Here’s the kicker: Taibbi has never been accused of s*xual harassment by any woman, let alone charged. So where did Kamlager-Dove get her ammo? It seems she’s leaning on a satirical passage from a book Taibbi co-wrote about his days crafting a Moscow nightlife guide in 1990s Russia. The women mentioned in that passage? They’ve been interviewed. Their verdict? Taibbi never harassed them. Multiple news outlets have even corrected their initial misfires about the text, admitting its satirical bent. Yet Kamlager-Dove plowed ahead, facts be damned.
“Defendant either knew the statements were false or acted with reckless disregard for their truth, ignoring prior legal action and public corrections debunking these allegations—corrections of which she was undoubtedly aware—and republishing the defamation on X, Bluesky and her website, outside the scope of her legislative duties, with intent to harm Plaintiff’s reputation,” the lawsuit declares. It’s a damning charge: a Democrat so eager to score a hit that she torched the truth in the process.
This isn’t Taibbi’s first rodeo with character assassination attempts, but it’s a stark example of how Democrats play fast and loose with serious accusations. Taibbi, who runs Racket News on Substack, earned his stripes exposing the “Twitter Files”—internal documents revealing how Twitter censored conservative voices and buried the Hunter Biden laptop story before the 2020 election. That work, handed to him by Elon Musk after the billionaire bought the platform, made Taibbi a target for the left’s wrath.
Musk’s mission to revive free speech on what’s now X put Taibbi in the crosshairs of a party that’s grown cozy with censorship. Before that, he spent years at Rolling Stone, digging into the U.S. national security state and dismantling the Trump-Russia collusion hoax. His left-wing roots only make the Democrats’ attacks more galling—they’re smearing one of their own because he dared to call out their sacred cows.
The hearing itself was about the State Department’s Global Engagement Center (GEC), which Taibbi dubbed a “truth squad” for its role in pressuring platforms to suppress speech. He testified it didn’t just target right-wing outlets—it went after leftist accounts too. Congress recently axed the GEC’s funding, turning it into a watered-down “hub” for countering foreign interference. Kamlager-Dove’s outburst looks less like principled outrage and more like a tantrum over losing a tool of control.
Let’s not kid ourselves: this is a pattern. Democrats have a long history of hurling s*xual misconduct claims like grenades, hoping the explosion drowns out inconvenient voices. Taibbi’s case shows how flimsy those charges can be—satire twisted into scandal, with no victim to back it up. Kamlager-Dove didn’t just miss the mark; she fired blindly, counting on the accusation alone to do the damage.
The fallout? Taibbi’s reputation takes a hit while the congresswoman plays victim on social media. Her posts on X and Bluesky aren’t legislative duties—they’re a megaphone for malice. And when the truth comes out, as it has time and again with Taibbi, the corrections get buried while the smear lingers. It’s a cynical game, and Democrats like Kamlager-Dove are all too happy to play it.
Taibbi’s not backing down, though. His lawsuit demands accountability—not just for himself, but for a media and political class that’s grown lazy with the facts. Whether it’s $10 million or a public reckoning, he’s out to prove that you can’t just slap “serial s*xual harasser” on someone and walk away clean. For a party that loves preaching about justice, Democrats sure seem allergic to practicing it when the target’s inconvenient.
This saga is bigger than one journalist and one congresswoman. It’s a warning shot about weaponized lies and the cost of letting them fester. Kamlager-Dove’s reckless swipe at Taibbi isn’t just a personal vendetta—it’s a glimpse into a Democratic strategy that thrives on distortion. If they’ll do this to a veteran reporter with no accusers, who’s safe from their next smear?
The Conservative Column will keep you updated on any major updates to this ongoing story.
