(Joshua Paladino, Headline USA) Texas energy businessman Kelcy Warren, a major donor to Gov. Greg Abbott, sued former Rep. Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke for claiming that he paid the governor to profit from last year’s power crisis, resulting in several hundred deaths.
O’Rourke said in social media posts that Warren’s donations to Abbott, including a $1 million donation during the Republican gubernatorial primary, were efforts to “buy off” the governor, according to HotAir.
Warren, the chairman and CEO of Energy Transfer, filed the defamation lawsuit in San Saba County on Feb. 22.
“O’Rourke intentionally, repeatedly, and widely disseminated his deliberate and defamatory falsehoods through publicly released messages on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites and during speaking engagements and interviews,” the defamation lawsuit states.
O’Rourke claimed that he has given voters the facts about Abbott and Warren’s illegal and murderous relationship.
“All I have done today, and all I’ve done over the course of the campaign, is to share these facts with the electorate that will decide the outcome of this next election,” O’Rourke said at a news conference in Dallas.
Energy prices skyrocketed during the power crisis, causing some Texans to pay more than $1,000 per day for electricity.
“I want to make sure that there is justice for those who were killed effectively by this governor,” O’Rourke huffed.
“I’ll make sure that there’s justice for the ratepayer who is now forced to foot the bill for these illegal windfall profits made by the gas companies and Energy Transfer Partners and others here in the state of Texas,” he said.
O’Rourke claimed that Warren filed the lawsuit to prevent him from discussing the power crisis on the campaign trail.
“Beto O’Rourke clearly hasn’t read or doesn’t understand the lawsuit filed personally by Kelcy Warren,” Energy Transfer said in a statement.
“Mr. Warren is not interested in barring Mr. O’Rourke from talking about the winter storm. That is the right of every Texan and every American.”
Abbott’s campaign said the governor “is in no way involved in this lawsuit.”
