Pro-Trump media figure Benny Johnson is facing a defamation lawsuit from two protesters who allege he falsely portrayed them as “left-wing terrorists” who had assaulted federal officers outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Broadview, Illinois.
The complaint, filed on Friday by Kyle Frankovich and Maureen Foody, centres on videos Johnson posted after protesters were detained near the facility last October. In one video, Johnson said: “These individuals assaulted ICE officers as they were trying to clear out the area behind us over here.”
Frankovich says he was observing and recording ICE agents from a designated free-speech area when he was thrown to the ground and arrested. He and Foody were released without charge.
The lawsuit alleges Johnson knew the claim was untrue. It says he filmed the footage while embedded with then-Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem and then Border Patrol commander-at-large Gregory Bovino.
Frankovich, a Harvard University data scientist, and Foody, a court reporter, say they have faced fears of violent attacks and professional repercussions since being labelled terrorists in Johnson’s videos.
The complaint says Frankovich and his partner no longer walk alone, while he has made his social media accounts private and uses a Google service to alert him when his address is posted online.
Images of Frankovich, with his hands bound behind his back and his tattoos visible, were later used in recruitment material by ICE, according to the lawsuit. Johnson’s footage was also broadcast on Fox News, and his social media accounts have millions of followers.
Johnson did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Rachel Goodman, special counsel at the legal non-profit Protect Democracy, which has worked on similar defamation cases but is not involved in the claim, said the case reflected an effort to discredit political opposition.
“It’s clear that the administration’s goal is to delegitimize all political opposition, and particularly to delegitimize the really mass movement of the general public that disapproves of the administration’s actions and has demonstrated that in a variety of ways,” she said.
Goodman said federal government officials are generally immune from defamation claims, but argued that the allegations against Johnson illustrated a wider approach to controlling the information environment through politically aligned influencers.
