Rachel Maddow’s Huge Blunder Could Cost MSNBC $30 Million
A federal judge ruled this week that a defamation lawsuit against MSNBC can move forward, indicating it has a high likelihood of success. The decision came after determining that network hosts, including Rachel Maddow, made “verifiably false” statements about a doctor suing for defamation.
In 2020, Dr. Mahendra Amin, an obstetrician-gynecologist at the Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia, faced serious allegations following a whistleblower complaint by a nurse at the facility. The complaint accused Amin of performing unnecessary hysterectomies on detained migrant women, according to a Fox News report.
NBC reporters Jacob Soboroff and Julia Ainsley investigated the whistleblower’s claims. Despite initial doubts from NBCUniversal’s standards department, they proceeded to publish an article on the matter.
MSNBC subsequently aired reports referring to Amin as the “uterus collector,” though the whistleblower’s claims were never conclusively proven.
“NBC investigated the whistleblower letter’s accusations; that investigation did not corroborate the accusations and even undermined some; NBC republished the letter’s accusations anyway,” wrote U.S. District Judge Lisa Godbey Wood of the Southern District of Georgia, a George W. Bush appointee, on June 26 in a 108-page summary.
The lawsuit alleges that MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace defamed Amin with “multiple statements” on-air that were purportedly false. Wallace was the first MSNBC host to discuss the whistleblower’s allegations, mentioning Amin by name.
“We are following breaking news today. It’s about an alarming new whistleblower complaint that alleges, quote, high numbers of female detainees, detained immigrants, at an ICE detention center in Georgia received questionable hysterectomies while in ICE custody,” Wallace told “Deadline: White House” viewers.
Court documents reveal that Amin “performed only two hysterectomies on women detained at the facility.”
That same evening, “All In With Chris Hayes” included an interview with the whistleblower. Hayes’ program also featured a lawyer who claimed that up to 15 immigrant women underwent unnecessary hysterectomies or other procedures.
Maddow, a prominent figure at MSNBC, reportedly earns $30 million annually despite hosting her show only once a week. She covered the whistleblower claims extensively on “The Rachel Maddow Show.”
MSNBC regularly informed viewers of an ICE statement asserting that “accusations will be fully investigated by an independent office, however, ICE vehemently disputes the implication that detainees are used for experimental medical procedures.” Maddow also included a statement from Amin, who strongly denied the whistleblower’s claims.
The court document claims that Maddow “initially questioned reporting on the allegations” and noted there was considerable “jumping to conclusions around the complaint,” yet proceeded to cover it anyway. “All In with Chris Hayes” also did a follow-up later in the week, according to Fox News.
Amin requested that NBC retract what he considered “false and defamatory” statements made during four MSNBC broadcasts, but the request was denied. Additionally, a United States Senate investigation into the whistleblower’s allegations could not substantiate the claims against him.
The judge emphasized that “undisputed evidence has established” that “there were no mass hysterectomies or high numbers of hysterectomies at the facility,” and that Amin performed only two hysterectomies on female detainees at ICDC, refuting the “uterus collector” label.
“The Court must look to each of the statements in the context of the entire broadcast or social media post to assess the construction placed upon it by the average viewer,” the judge wrote.
“Viewed in their entirety, the September 15, 2020 episodes of ‘Deadline: White House,’ ‘All In With Chris Hayes,’ and ‘The Rachel Maddow Show’ accuse Plaintiff of performing mass hysterectomies on detainee women. It does not matter that NBC did not make these accusations directly, but only republished the whistleblower letter’s allegations,” the judge continued. “If accusations against a plaintiff are ‘based entirely on hearsay,’ ‘[t]he fact that the charges made were based upon hearsay in no manner relieves the defendant of liability. Charges based upon hearsay are the equivalent in law to direct charges.’”
The judge has tasked the jury with determining whether MSNBC’s hosts acted with “actual malice.”