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David Smith, the owner of The Baltimore Sun and executive chairman of Sinclair Broadcast Group, threatened Wednesday to sue Maryland Gov. Wes Moore for defamation over remarks Moore made on MS NOW linking Smith to Jeffrey Epstein, escalating a dispute over the newspaper’s reporting on the Democratic governor’s military record.
“A false assertion of this nature linking an individual to Mr. Epstein’s financial dealings is of a kind that foreseeably subjects that individual to serious reputational harm, including public contempt and scorn, diminished business relationships, and damage to personal and professional standing,” Smith’s lawyer wrote.
Attorney Harold Walter made the warning in a June letter obtained by Semafor, which first reported the threatened lawsuit. Walter demanded that Moore retract and correct his remarks or explain their factual basis and instructed the governor’s team to preserve documents concerning Smith and any purported Epstein connection.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is facing a threatened defamation lawsuit over remarks linking Baltimore Sun owner David Smith to Jeffrey Epstein. (Getty Images)
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“The governor should issue a ‘clear, unequivocal public retraction and correction,’” the letter said.
Walter also demanded that Moore publicly retract the claim or provide evidence supporting it.
“Identify, at least at a high level, the factual basis (if any) on which you relied in making the statement,” the letter said.
Moore’s team rejected the demand and told Semafor that the governor stood by his comments. Joseph Sandler, Moore’s personal attorney, responded Tuesday that Epstein’s funds had owned several hundred thousand dollars’ worth of investments in Sinclair while Smith served as chairman and CEO.
David Smith’s attorney demanded that Moore retract his comments or identify the factual basis for connecting Smith to Epstein’s financial dealings. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“The statement made by Governor Moore is absolutely and indisputably true and, therefore, your assertion that the statement is defamatory is meritless,” Sandler wrote.
In a response provided to Fox News Digital, Sandler argued that Walter had misstated Moore’s words. Sandler wrote that Moore did not claim Epstein invested directly in Smith, but instead said Smith “was invested in by Jeffrey Epstein.”
Sandler cited Justice Department records that he said showed Epstein-founded Financial Trust Company held Sinclair investments valued between $156,240 and $373,980 in 2001 and 2002. He also said another Epstein-founded company, Southern Trust Company, invested more than $100,000 in Sinclair Broadcast Group in 2013 through Southern Financial LLC.
The attorney noted that Smith served as Sinclair’s chairman, president and CEO during the years in which the Epstein-controlled entities held the investments.
Sandler’s response, as summarized by Semafor, cited investments in Sinclair. The report did not describe a personal relationship between Smith and Epstein.
Moore’s attorney rejected the defamation claim and argued that Epstein-linked funds held investments in Sinclair while Smith led the company. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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Smith personally purchased The Baltimore Sun in 2024.
Sandler also confirmed that Moore’s team had taken steps to preserve evidence related to Smith’s threatened claim and demanded that Smith preserve records involving efforts to “attack or encourage attacks on Governor Moore.”
Moore made the disputed remarks during an appearance on MS NOW’s “The Weeknight,” when he was questioned about critical coverage of his administration and biographical record. The governor accused the newspaper of targeting him. “This is not journalism. This is slander and misinformation,” Moore said.
The dispute followed months of reporting by The Baltimore Sun and Sinclair-affiliated Spotlight on Maryland journalists examining Moore’s military service and other elements of his biography. Semafor previously reported that Smith had been copied on emails from reporters investigating the governor, an arrangement the outlet described as unusual because newspapers typically separate ownership and editorial operations.
Moore attacked the newspaper’s direction in an interview with former Biden White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
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“It’s actually a very sad day because The Baltimore Sun used to be our paper of record. It’s now become the paper of the right wing,” Moore said.
Questions about Moore’s military biography have included his listing of a Bronze Star on a 2006 White House fellowship application before he had received the award. Moore described the listing as an honest mistake and received the medal in 2024 after his former commander resubmitted the paperwork.
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Sandler further argued that Smith’s threatened action appeared to be a bad-faith claim intended to inhibit Moore from speaking on a matter of public concern.
No lawsuit had been reported as filed Wednesday. The exchange remained at the demand-letter stage, with Smith seeking a retraction and Moore’s attorney maintaining that the governor’s statement was true.