JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Missouri Governor Mike Parson sent a letter to the Office of Administration saying the state will not pay for the damages of the three senators being sued for defamation if found guilty.
Parson is currently on a trade mission to Italy. The Attorney General is in charge of representing the senators. Parson previously criticized Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s decision to defend the senators in court, calling the involvement “problematic.”
Three Republican state senators falsely accused an Olathe, Kansas, man of being a shooter at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl rally. The man filed defamation lawsuits against the senators, saying they wrongly identified him as an “illegal alien” and potential gunman.
Attorney General Bailey, formerly Parson’s chief attorney, now argues that the senators have legislative immunity and filed to dismiss the lawsuits. He said that the state should ensure that a remote federal district court does not have the final say on Missouri law.
