Eric Bolling who recently achieved a new level of what I’m sure is unwanted fame when Huffington Post “broke” a story last week that indicated he had sent lewd photographs to several of his female co-workers has announced that he’s going to sue the media website.
“Just received a summons. Eric Bolling is suing me for defamation – $50 million in damages, ” Yashar Ali, a HuffPost contributing writer, tweeted to his 140,000 Twitter followers on Wednesday. “I stand by my reporting + will protect my sources.”
As reported by The Hill:
“The nature of this action is for damages and injunctive relief based on defamation arising from the defendant’s efforts to injure the plaintiff’s reputation through the intentional and/or highly reckless publication of actionable false and misleading statements about the plaintiff’s conduct and character. As a result of the defendant’s actions, the plaintiff has been substantially harmed,” reads the summons sent to Ali.
The editor in chief of The Huffington Post tweeted that the outlet will be “standing by” Ali in the case.
Bolling was suspended on Saturday by the network as an investigation continues into the claims he sent harassing messages years ago via text message.
“Eric Bolling has been suspended pending the results of an investigation, which is currently underway,” a Fox spokesperson said.
A Fox News spokesperson on Wednesday told The Hill that “an investigation is still ongoing” with no further comment.
Bolling is represented by Michael Bowe.
Bowe works at the same law firm as Marc Kasowitz, who was President Trump’s personal attorney until July.
Bolling, who previously co-hosted “The Five,” until last weekend served as a host of the new Fox News show “The Specialists” and the weekly Saturday program, “Cashin’ In.”
A spokesperson for Fox told The Hill on Saturday that Bolling will be investigated by the Paul Weiss law firm. That’s the same firm that investigated former chairman and CEO Roger Ailes, who was ousted from the network just two days after the firm began investigating. Ailes passed away in May.