TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The conservative activist lawyer that sued China for $20 trillion over the coronavirus pandemic is now seeking $5 million in a defamation lawsuit against Donald Trump ally Roger Stone over comments he made on a social media site popular with far-right extremists.
Larry Klayman filed the lawsuit in Palm Beach County, Florida, on Monday, arguing the political provocateur made a false statement about his status as a lawyer and levied a false accusation that Klayman had molested his children.
Stone posted a comment on Gab that called Klayman a “warped former lawyer that the 11th circuit found guilty of molesting his own children.” After Klayman demanded it be taken down, Stone posted a “clarification” that further insulted Klayman by referring to a profanity. Stone also made additional harmful and false claims, the suit said.
While Klayman was suspended from practicing law in Washington, D.C., he remains a lawyer licensed in Florida. Klayman said in the lawsuit that his ex-wife made a false claim against him about sexually inappropriate contact with their children during a messy divorce and custody battle. He says the claim was investigated and he was never charged with a crime.
A call to Stone's cellphone was unanswered and his voicemail was full.
Stone was charged by the Justice Department in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation and convicted at trial of lying to Congress, tampering with a witness and obstructing the House investigation into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to tip the 2016 election. Trump later commuted Stone’s sentence and pardoned him.
Klayman, the founder of Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch, is known for his numerous lawsuits, often targeting Democratic politicians. He's also sued his own mother, as well as China, accusing the country of unleashing COVID-19 as a “biological weapon.”
Klayman's clients have included George Zimmerman in a lawsuit against the family of Trayvon Martin, the Black unarmed teenager Zimmerman killed while volunteering on a neighborhood watch.
Brendan Farrington, The Associated Press