Kim Klacik shot to fame for a viral campaign video during the 2020 elections. She is now suing Candace Owens for defamation.
According to The Baltimore Sun:
Kimberly Klacik, a former Republican congressional candidate in Maryland, is suing conservative commentator Candace Owens for $20 million in damages over an Instagram video Owens made in June in which she alleged Klacik had committed campaign fraud, money laundering, illegally used drugs and was a “madame” of a strip club, according to court documents.
The lawsuit, filed in Baltimore County Circuit Court, alleges Klacik lost a book deal, had politicians cancel fundraising appearances with her and lost a contract with a “nationally recognized vendor,” after Owens posted the video June 22. In the 44-minute Instagram live video, Owens said Klacik’s charity Potential Me was illegitimate, that Klacik was a stripper at a club owned by her husband and that she misused campaign funds, according to the lawsuit.
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In the video, Owens says she is “not an investigative journalist,” and “could not confirm” any of the criminal allegations she makes against Klacik. But she went on to accuse Klacik of “money laundering, tax fraud and campaign fraud,” as well as paying vendors to “move money off the books” and working to recruit strippers for a strip club Owens says Klacik’s husband owns, according to the lawsuit.
“Baseless character assassination has no place in political dialogue‚” Klacik’s attorney, Jacob Frenkel, said in a statement. “The defendant chose to use her huge social media platform to attack a respected Baltimore political figure; we are using the proper forum — the power of the courts — to respond. The detail in Ms. Klacik’s lawsuit speaks for itself.”
The lawsuit alleges Owens “continues to support and encourage the harassment” of Kim Klacik.
