Trump supporters' lawsuit against grocery clerk over insurrection may backfire: report

Katheryn Cagle and her mother Thelma Cagle were allegedly in Washington, DC for the January 6th insurrection of Trump supporters after organizing busloads of attendees from Georgia.

Now the Cagles are reported suing grocery store clerk Rayven Goolsby for social media posts criticizing the insurrection, The Washington Post reported Saturday.

"In late February, the exchange jumped from social media to a Pickens County Superior Court when the Cagles sued Goolsby for defamation and libel. Goolsby's attorney, Andrew Fleischman, characterized the Cagles' suit as an example of a prominent family active in local politics using the heft of the courts to intimidate his client, who works at a local grocery store, into silence," the newspaper reported. "The social media posts at the heart of the dispute, including deleted ones referring to the Jan. 6 protest, are preserved as screenshots in legal filings. None of the parties deny making the remarks cited in the dueling lawsuits."

However, the lawsuit may backfire on the Cagles.

The newspaper noted, "The anti-SLAPP suit notes that Katheryn Cagle deleted all of her social media history pertaining to Jan. 6. If the matter goes into discovery, both sides could be compelled to produce troves of personal data, such as GPS location history and message logs — 'all kinds of stuff even a police officer would have trouble getting,' Fleischman said."

"You should not file defamation suits if you're worried about criminal liability," he added.

Read the full report.