
Sarah Palin Tells Jury That New York Times Editorial 'Kicked The Oomph' Out Of Her
HuffPost
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin testified Monday in her federal defamation trial over a 2017 editorial on gun control.
NEW YORK (AP) — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin testified Monday at a defamation trial that an editorial about gun control in The New York Times in 2017 was devastating and “kicked the oomph” out of her.
The former Republican candidate for vice president answered questions in Manhattan federal court at a trial of her libel claims against the newspaper. She seeks unspecified damages.
“This was the gamechanger,” Palin said of the effect on her life after the newspaper in June 2017 published an editorial about gun control. “I felt defenseless. It just kicked the oomph right out of you.”
The editorial was created after U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, was wounded when a man with a history of anti-GOP activity opened fire on a congressional baseball team practice in Washington.
In the editorial, the Times wrote that before the 2011 mass shooting in Arizona that severely wounded former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords and killed six others, Palin’s political action committee had contributed to an atmosphere of violence by circulating a map of electoral districts that put Giffords and 19 other Democrats under stylized crosshairs.