The Mirror

Charles Johnson Threatens To Sue Man Who Called Him A Child Molester

Betsy Rothstein Gossip blogger
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In a bizarre twist on an already unusual story, Charles C. Johnson, an independent journalist who runs GotNews, is planning to sue a man for accusing him of being a child molester on Twitter.

In recent weeks, Johnson has been seeking Michael Brown‘s alleged juvenile crime records. Brown, an unarmed black teen, was recently shot to death in Ferguson, Mo., setting off weeks of racial riots in the city.

Johnson says he has spent $7000 to file a lawsuit to obtain Brown’s records. Now, in the aftermath of Johnson filing a lawsuit to obtain Brown’s records, Johnson is being asked to disclose his own.

With the exception of a fight – which he insists he won – he says he has no juvenile record. But that didn’t stop a Calabasas, Calif.-based man named Shaun King from posting a court document insisting that Johnson had been convicted of child molestation. Except it wasn’t the Charles Johnson of GotNews, who was born in 1988. It was a Charles Johnson, born in 1989.

King has since deleted all his tweets regarding Johnson. The Mirror requested comment from him on Twitter.

“I not only not have a juvenile record, I’ve never gotten in trouble ever,” Johnson told The Mirror in a phone conversation from LAX Thursday as he waited to catch a flight. “Nobody even gave me a strong talking to in school.”

Johnson warned King repeatedly on Twitter to stop calling him a child molester. “[I said] look dude you’ve gotta stop calling me a child molester,” explained Johnson. “So he doubled down and said I committed a felony in Mississippi..that I paid a reverend to lie. So he’s coming after me and it’s kind of hilarious. I warned him repeatedly.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Johnson has Talking Points Memo to thank for possibly helping his chances of proving libel. TPM reporter Tom Kludt asked Johnson to release his juvenile records, but ultimately did not run a story. The Mirror obtained the exchange between Johnson and the reporter:

Subject line: I need comment on this.

KLUDT: “I know you went to Milton Academy, but you’ve said that the DOB is incorrect. Are you denying that you committed sexual assault on someone under the age of 14 in 2003? I will post whatever response you provide in its entirety.”

JOHNSON: “Dude it’s total bullshit.”

KLUDT: “Yeah, I can see that. Ugh. Sorry, man.”

JOHNSON: “The narrative you guys have of me being right wing isn’t even remotely true.”

KLUDT: “Hey, I think I’ve been fair to you, haven’t I? No doubt, TPM is a liberal outlet (and transparently so), but I pride myself in being judicious in my reporting. And look, I don’t think it’s a pejorative to characterize you as a ‘conservative journalist.’ Just seems self-evident. You’ve written for Breitbart and TheDC, and some of your public comments would seem to signal such an ideological bent. I’d definitely be down to chat on the phone sometime. Just let me know.”

Johnson finds a certain comedy to King’s so-called molestation news. “You really should not talk with someone who has a whole research team,” said Johnson, adding that he’s got the screen grabs as well as 450 some people who retweeted the molestation doc. “Those are your damages.”

To be sure, Johnson has no shortage of enemies these days. After the nation learned that ISIS had beheaded journalist James Foley, Johnson went on Twitter and incensed followers by insisting that Foley was weak to have condemned his country before he was killed.

As for this situation, Johnson’s dead serious about pursuing damages. As he continues to pursue Brown’s juvi records, he finished up a phone call with his lawyer Thursday afternoon to finalize a plan to sue King.

Full disclosure: Johnson previously contributed stories to The Daily Caller.