Conservative activist Brandon Straka recently announced a new defamation lawsuit against Rolling Stone magazine, and he told The Epoch Times he also has plans to sue a big name talk show host and a major news outlet.
On March 26, Straka—a conservative journalist, political commentator, activist, and prominent social media influencer—made a public Twitter announcement of his plans to take legal action against Rolling Stone.
Rolling Stone then edited the story to say that “friends like Straka were busy crossing into the restricted area at the U.S. Capitol Grounds.”
Straka is also the founder of the #WalkAway Campaign, a grassroots conservative movement that encourages and supports liberals to “Walk Away” from the divisive “woke” policies endorsed by the Democrat Party. More recently, Straka launched his own social media platform, WalkAway Social, where liberals share their stories about why they “left the Democrat plantation” and conservatives offer words of support and encouragement.
In an interview with The Epoch Times, Straka described how he is going after a cadre of media outlets and specific individuals that have pushed fake stories as news. Many of the most vicious attacks, he said, come “not so coincidentally from the LGBTQ community.”
“In their headlines, they call me a ‘convicted insurrectionist,’” Straka said. “I was only convicted of a class B misdemeanor for disorderly conduct and I never entered the Capitol.”
While Straka has described his decision to go to Washington on Jan. 6 as “one of the stupidest and tragic decisions“ of his life, he told The Epoch Times that ”insurrection“ is a crime he ”did not commit.”
“So we’re going after these publications,” he vowed. “We’re either going to make them apologize, settle or we’re going to sue.”
Straka then revealed that he will soon be filing yet another lawsuit.
He declined to share details and would say only that the forthcoming lawsuits involved “a famous and very well-known talk show host” and “a major news publication.” Both have accused him of being an informant and throwing other Jan. 6 prisoners under the bus in exchange for being able to avoid prison himself.
‘Take the Shield, Take the Shield’
This wasn’t the first time Straka took legal action against the media. On Dec. 16, 2022, Straka filed a defamation suit (pdf) against MSNBC, Chris Hayes, and Ari Melber.According to the complaint, Hayes showed a video clip of Straka during his prime time show, “All in with Chris Hayes.”
“We got a guy who was there, who was involved in the lead up to the insurrection ... who breaks into the Capitol,” he says.
Hayes also played a segment of the video Straka captured outside of the Capitol building, falsely attributing a voice in the segment as that of Brandon Straka, misleading his audience to believe that he was the one shouting, “Take it away from him! Take the shield!”
MSNBC then republished Hayes’ statements to their 5 million YouTube subscribers.
“The Hayes’ [sic] statements are completely fabricated,” the lawsuit states.
According to Straka’s Statement of Offense, he was simply repeating the words “take it, take it,” as it was being shouted by others. Straka was never accused of “yelling” these words, and his defense noted that throughout the entire video, Straka can be heard repeating what is being said by those around him as he documented the events for his audience. Moreover, Straka’s Statement of Offense never indicates that he directed or encouraged any violence or assaults.
Melber later republished his statements to his 358,900 Twitter followers.
Straka’s lawsuit asserts that he “did not confess and was not found by any Court to have helped attack police officers or to have attempted an attack on any police officer.” It also says “public record ... demonstrates beyond cavil that Straka did not engage in any acts of violence or encourage anyone to commit violence on January 6, 2021. Rather, he was filming events outside the east side of the Capitol in a journalistic capacity.”
‘We Are at War’
Despite his determination to stand strong, Straka admits he’s only human, and some days are harder than others.“To be honest with you, the only way I am able to survive this sometimes is just by recognizing that we are at war,” Straka explained. “People might not want to accept that. It might be too scary for people to process.”
While acknowledging that “the war might not have come directly to every person’s doorstep yet,” he says the assault against him and his character is proof that “the war has begun.”
“I am damaged,” Straka confessed. “My name is damaged, the name ‘Walk Away’ is damaged, my finances are damaged, and my donor base is damaged.”
While those who searched Straka’s name before Jan. 6, 2021, would find what Straka describes as “the typical, almost laughable left-wing articles,” Straka said, “things are different now.”
Where liberal attacks were once confined to accusations such as the idea that “Walk Away” isn’t real, and it’s all “Russian propaganda,” rife with “bots” and “disinformation,” now “there are pages and pages of stories” painting him “as a violent, crazy anarchist who tried to overthrow the government.”
Then there’s the other source of his grief.
While Democrats use his presence at the Capitol on Jan. 6 to make an example of him and to send a warning to others who might think of taking a stand, the very conservatives for whom he has sacrificed his wealth and honor turned their backs on him as the government exacted its revenge upon him, Straka said.
“When the FBI came and stormed my apartment and took me to jail, I said to my team and everyone around me that I have an obligation to survive this and to show other people that someone can survive this,” he recalled. “But what I found was that the conservative movement went overwhelmingly silent on me.”
Straka described how media opportunities evaporated, doors were closed, and contacts among politicians and public figures went quiet.
“I thought, ‘Oh my God. I’m not going to be allowed to come back and survive this,’” he remembered, “because the allies I need to do that are scared and running away.”
At the same time, Straka said he considers it “mandatory” that he “survive and keep fighting.”
“They would like to destroy me,” Straka acknowledged, adding that “they also want to destroy Donald Trump and anyone else who is fighting back against their narrative, their agenda and exposing the truth about who they are.”
“I’m on the front lines,” Straka attested. “Me, Donald Trump, people like that. They’re coming for us first. All we can do at this point is to continue to fight and stand our ground. That’s what I intend to do. I’m going to keep fighting. I’m going to keep sanding my ground.”
The Epoch Times reached out to Rolling Stone and MSNBC for comment.
