Conservative podcaster Tim Pool has initiated legal action against the Kamala Harris campaign, alleging defamation and asserting that it has effectively placed a target on him. The lawsuit was filed on Thursday, during which Pool reported a rise in death threats and expressed concerns about individuals he believes are surveilling his workplace, as reported by The Daily Signal.
“It’s putting a target on my back for things I don’t believe and things I actually argue against,” he said to The Daily Signal.
The central point of his lawsuit pertains to a particular post made by the Kamala HQ account on X, previously known as Twitter, on August 31, 2024.
Trump operatives say their Project 2025 plan is to give Trump total, unchecked legal power so they can jail and execute those who don’t support Trump if he wins
(They have since scrubbed this video from YouTube) pic.twitter.com/z6VVtthKr4
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) August 31, 2024
The video accompanying the post from the Kamala HQ account features a segment from the podcaster, who advocated for the imprisonment of Democrats upon conviction of crimes. However, the podcaster later clarified that incarceration should only occur following a just legal process, wherein individuals are proven guilty of legitimate offenses and their civil rights are safeguarded.
The podcaster asserted that it was “absolutely incorrect” to categorize him as a “Trump operative.” He further stated that he has no connections to Project 2025 or The Heritage Foundation, the organization responsible for its creation.
“It stated that I wanted Trump to have extra-judicial authority to jail and execute the people who refuse to support him, which is, I believe, the most shockingly extreme thing you could accuse someone of advocating for or believing,” he said in the interview.
“I didn’t specifically say ‘political opponents,’ it said ‘those who don’t support him,’ as if to imply your run-of-the-mill voter who says, ‘I don’t support Trump,’ may face extrajudicial execution by some kind of psychotic dictatorial regime,” he said. “It’s an absurdity, it’s insane.”
“One of the top presidential campaigns claims that a top global podcast, prominent political show is calling for run-of-the-mill voters who don’t support Trump to be executed should he win,” he said.
He stated that the assertion regarding his removal of the video from the Internet is inaccurate, clarifying that he only took it down from YouTube after it was flagged. He also mentioned that the video remains available on Rumble. Furthermore, he indicated that the post resulted in a rise in death threats and other suspicious activities.
“Within a few days of this post going up, a strange man started lurking around one of my properties, our old studio location where we no longer operate out of,” he said.
The podcaster said that employees informed him that “a strange individual wearing a dress was trespassing on the property and filming the building.”
“This individual apparently got into a fight, injuring one of our employees,” he said.
“I have absolutely seen an uptick in” messages on social media “some insinuating to the effect of wanting me to die or intending to have me die.”
“But after this tweet goes out, I certainly noticed a dramatic increase in messages,” the podcaster said and he claimed that he used to get threats “once or twice a month,” but now it is “in the hundreds.”