Eight Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky students have sued 12 people, including Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren and comedian Kathy Griffin, for defamation regarding the January standoff with a Native American activist in Washington.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Kenton County Circuit Court, comes days after a federal judge tossed a $250 million defamation action brought against The Washington Post by Nick Sandmann, one of the students involved in the viral Jan. 18 standoff with Nathan Phillips.
The new defamation action was filed by the minors through their parents, Law & Crime.com reports.
"A field trip to our nation's capital for a group of minors from Covington, Kentucky turned into a social media nightmare that changed their futures forever," attorneys for the students, Robert Barnes and Kevin Murphy, said in the lawsuit.
Besides Warren, D-Mass., and Griffin, others named were Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M.; CNN commentator Ana Navarro; New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman; ABC News political analyst Matthew Dowd; former CNN commentator Reza Aslan; Kentucky solar-energy entrepreneur Adam Edelen; Princeton University history professor Kevin Kruse; Mother Jones editor-in-chief Clara Jeffery; Rewire.News.com editor-in-chief Jodi Jacobson; and journalist Shaun King.
In the D.C. incident with Phillips, the minors were wearing "Make America Great Again" hats.
The standoff was recorded and went viral on social media — and the defendants "circulated false statements about them to millions of people around the world," the lawsuit says.
"The video of the entire event, known to the defendants, exposed all of their factual claims against the kids as lies," the lawsuit continues."
The defendants were offered the opportunity to apologize or retract their statements, "but each refused," the suit says.
However, the Law & Crime report included a tweeted apology from CNN conservative commentator S.E. Cupp.
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