Two Illinois residents, Kyle Frankovich and Maureen Foody, have filed a lawsuit against right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson, accusing him of defamation. They claim Johnson falsely portrayed them as violent extremists in videos he posted during a ride-along with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) outside a Chicago-area detention center. Frankovich, a Harvard data scientist, and Foody, a court reporter, say they were peacefully protesting when they were detained by federal agents without provocation. Johnson, who has close ties to the Trump administration and was given special access to ICE operations, referred to the detained protesters as ‘left-wing terrorists’ in his social media posts. The lawsuit argues that Johnson knowingly spread false information, describing his content as ‘political combat dressed up as news.’ This case is believed to be the first defamation suit linked to the administration’s immigration crackdown targeting a MAGA influencer. Johnson’s videos, which garnered millions of views, included taunting comments and sparked online harassment against the protesters, who were later released without charges.
