State Sen. Dan Laughlin is taking legal action against the Erie Reader over an article published in July, he announced Friday.
The defamation suit claims contributing editor Jim Wertz falsely claimed Laughlin was on a list of people seeking criminal pardons from former President Donald Trump.
A spokesman for Laughlin said the senator signed an “amicus curiae,” or friend-of-the-court brief, in connection with a lawsuit which challenged the 2020 election results in four states including Pennsylvania. It claimed the states enacted election law without going through the legislature.
The article tried to link Laughlin to an email by Sen. Mo Brooks, which requested pardons from President Trump for members of Congress who voted to reject the Electoral College votes of Arizona and Pennsylvania, and every Republican who signed the brief in the Texas lawsuit, according to the spokesman. However, Laughlin's spokesman said the email refers to a different brief than the one signed by the senator.
The lawsuit, which was filed in Erie County Court of Common Pleas, is seeking more than $1 million in damages from the Erie Reader and Wertz.
The article in question can be read here. The Erie Reader previously responded to Rep. Mike Kelly's concerns about the same article here.