As promised on Monday afternoon, Covington student Nicholas Sandmann attorneys Lin Wood and Todd McMurty ran The Washington Post through the wood chipper in a new statement refusing to accept The Post’s cowardly-timed Friday night Editor’s Note attempting to cover itself for the damage done to Sandmann as part of the January 18 incident on the National Mall.
The 445-word statement didn’t mince words, slamming The Post as having led “a mainstream and social media mob of bullies” against Sandmann and pivoted to “publicly pars[ing] and spin[ning] its false coverage in an effort to avoid accountability and limit its legal responsibility for its wrongdoing.”
“The Post’s efforts were too little and too late,” the two added. And those quotes only made up the opening paragraph! Needless to say, it's doubtful that Sandmann will be dropping the suit against the paper announced on February 19 anytime soon.
McMurty and Wood continued to take direct issue with the Editor’s Note that the Bezos-owned paper tried to sneak in on Friday as having illustrated their desire “to whitewash its wrongdoing were untimely, grossly insufficient and did little more than perpetuate the lies it published — lies that will haunt and adversely affect Nicholas for the rest of his life.”
The pair also received a letter from Post General Counsel Jay Kennedy and, like the Editor’s Note, they found it unacceptable (click “expand”):
The Post ignored its own culpabilility and wrongdoing. Mr. Kennedy’s letter stated that the post “provided accurate coverage.” it did not and its belated public relations efforts change nothing and fool no one. The Post made no effort to retract and correct the lies it published.
The Post did not have the integrity to unequivocally admit its negligent and reckless violations of fundamental journalistic standards documented by its completely failure to investigate the incident at the National Mall before publishing lies about a child. One need only review [T]he Post’s published its of its own Policies and Standards at (https://www.washingtonpost.com/policies-and-standards/?utm_term=.ec515ec8b6aa) to find violation after violation after violation.
Next came the key sentence in the statement: “The Post did not have the character to apologize to Nicholas and seek his forgiveness.”
After noting that “false accusations” against an adult do damage to one’s career while those against children do tremendous damage before their independent lives can truly take flight, Sandmann’s lawyers concluded by asserting that their legal challenge against The Post will continue on:
Last Friday night [T]he Post made clear it has learned no lesson and remains willing in the future to falsely attack others to further its political agenda, including false attacks on children.
The Post has now doubled-downed on its lies. As Nicholas’s lawyers, we will now double down on truth and aggressive continue our legal efforts to hold the Post accountable and obtain justice for Nicholas in a court of law.
To see the full statement from Sandmann’s lawyers released on March 4, click “expand.”
Statement by Lin Wood and Todd McMurty
March 4, 2019In the span of 3 days beginning on January 19, The Washington Post rushed to claim leadership of a mainstream and social media mob of bullies who falsely attacked, vilified, and threatened Nicholas Sandmann, an innocent 16-year-old boy. Late last Friday, 41 days after it launched its false attacks on a minor, the Post published and Editor’s Note and delivered to Nicholas’ lawyers a letter from its General Counsel, Jay Kennedy. With its unlimited financial resources, the Post likely spend tens of thousands of dollars on media defense lawyers to publicly parse and spin its false coverage in an effort to avoid accountability and limit its legal responsibility for its wrongdoing. The Post’s efforts were too little and too late.
The Friday night efforts by the Post to whitewash its wrongdoing were untimely, grossly insufficient and did little more than perpetuate the lies it published — lies that will haunt and adversely affect Nicholas for the rest of his life.
The Post ignored its own culpabilility and wrongdoing. Mr. Kennedy’s letter stated that the post “provided accurate coverage.” it did not and its belated public relations efforts change nothing and fool no one. The Post made no effort to retract and correct the lies it published.
The Post did not have the integrity to unequivocally admit its negligent and reckless violations of fundamental journalistic standards documented by its completely failure to investigate the incident at the National Mall before publishing lies about a child. One need only review the Post’s published its of its own Policies and Standards at (https://www.washingtonpost.com/policies-and-standards/?utm_term=.ec515ec8b6aa) to find violation after violation after violation.
The Post did not have the character to apologize to Nicholas and seek his forgiveness.
Highlighting its arrogance and lack of contrition, the Post announced its “deletion” of one of its false and defamatory tweets about the incident and Nicholas by re-posting the tweet so that its lies will also forever remain available on the Internet and in social media.
False accusations against an adult destroy a lifetime of accomplishments. False accusations against children forever rob them of their inherent right to define their lives for themselves and force them to suffer a life tainted and damaged by the permanent shadow of the lies.
Last Friday night the Post made clear it has learned no lesson and remains willing in the future to falsely attack others to further its political agenda, including false attacks on children.
The Post has now doubled-downed on its lies. As Nicholas’s lawyers, we will now double down on truth and aggressive continue our legal efforts to hold the Post accountable and obtain justice for Nicholas in a court of law.
