George Zimmerman, the Florida man who was infamously acquitted in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, has filed a lawsuit accusing two Democratic presidential candidates of defamation.
In his lawsuit, Zimmerman is seeking $265 million from Senator Elizabeth Warren and former Mayor Pete Buttigieg, accusing the two of defamation, regarding tweets they posted back on February 5th, to honor the day Martin would have turned 25 years old.
According to Salon.com, the lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of Zimmerman by attorney Larry Klayman, claims the two used the tweets to defame him and “garner votes in the black community.” It also claims that the tweets used Martin’s killing “as a pretext to demagogue and falsely brand Zimmerman as a white supremacist and racist to their millions of Twitter followers.”
Klayman claims in the suit that “Buttigieg defamed Zimmerman by claiming without any basis whatsoever that the Hispanic minority advocate and Obama supporter Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin in cold blood due to his ‘white supremacy,’ a racist cause that is held in great disdain and consternation by the public.”
The suit also alleges that Warren defamed Zimmerman by attempting to link him to “racism.”
Trayvon Martin would have been 25 today.
How many 25th birthdays have been stolen from us by white supremacy, gun violence, prejudice, and fear?#BlackLivesMatter
— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) February 5, 2020
My heart goes out to @SybrinaFulton and Trayvon’s family and friends. He should still be with us today.
We need to end gun violence and racism. And we need to build a world where all of our children—especially young Black boys—can grow up safe and free. https://t.co/9lXXlRnvzL
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) February 6, 2020
Klayman is accusing both candidates of pandering to black voters and trying to manipulate them to win the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, claiming that the tweets have caused the loss of goodwill and ruined Zimmerman’s reputation.
“It is high time that the cheap and harmful use of the race card by politicians of all stripes be made to cease and desist,” Klayman said in a statement. “Their despicable ‘race tactics’ are not only causing great harm to persons such as my client George Zimmerman but also are damaging relations between black and white Americans who are all brothers.”
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