Back in December of 2018, after a series of cancellations on Second Amendment platform NRATV, the axe came for right-wing Trump apologist Dan Bongino. The first reporting on the matter came from news outlet The Daily Beast and was accompanied by the headline: “Dan Bongino out at NRATV – BONGI-NO-MORE.” At the time Bongino refuted the report, saying that he wasn’t fired, he quit! In fact, he quit so much that he was going to launch a defamation case against the newspaper. Like every right-wing person in the media landscape, Bongino’s grasp on what law is and is not seems to be tenuous.
Bongino filed a $15 million lawsuit against the Beast in December. In August, Florida Judge Jose Martinez, appointed by George W. Bush, dismissed the case, saying that it failed to “state a claim for defamation” and the filing was “without merit.” Bongino tried to argue that the Beast’s claims that his show was canceled “insinuated” it was Bongino’s fault, and that he was downsized. I know cats that understand the law better. On Tuesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Shaniek Maynard ruled that Bongino is on the hook for The Daily Beast’s legal fees.
