Former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant sues Mississippi Today alleging defamation. Details here

Former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant filed a defamation lawsuit Wednesday against the Mississippi Today and Mary Margaret White, its chief executive officer, saying public comments related to their Pulitzer-Prize winning investigative series "The Backchannel" damaged his reputation.

The multi-part series, authored by Mississippi Today reporter Anna Wolfe, delves into the alleged misuse of the state's welfare funds by public officials, bureaucrats and professional athletes such as Brett Favre and Marcus Dupree. The reporting, done through open records requests, uncovers new evidence in the scandal, which was originally brought to light by the office of the state auditor Shad White.

Bryant, the former Republican governor, has not been charged with any crimes associated with the welfare scandal.

Mississippi Today's attorney Henry Laird said he is confident Mississippi Today did nothing wrong.

“As Mississippi Today’s attorney, I have read the allegations from former Governor Phil Bryant and can say with great confidence that Mississippi Today and its CEO will defeat this misguided and ill-conceived litigation" Laird said. "They have done nothing wrong, and our response to the complaint will reflect that."

1 Complaint Against Deep South Today Mary Margaret White by USA TODAY Network on Scribd

Bryant's lawsuit, filed in Madison County Circuit Court, does not appear to deny any of Wolfe's reporting but claims that Mississippi Today, Wolfe and White slandered and defamed him on four separate occasions. Bryant's lawsuit does not name Wolfe as a party, naming only Deep South Today (Mississippi Today's parent company) and White.

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In background supporting statements, the suit alleges the first defamation occurred in December 2021 when Wolfe was being interviewed by Ronnie Shows, a Democrat and former member of the United States House of Representatives representing Mississippi, on his radio program about the welfare scandal. During the program, Shows asked Wolfe what her next step is in pursuing the story. Wolfe stated she wanted to question "how far up the chain this is going to go... if they're really going to go after everyone that they should, and everyone who should be held accountable, namely the former governor Phil Bryant."

"Wolfe's comments are false and slanderous. Moreover, they are inconsistent with the information Wolfe gathered during her reporting," the lawsuit states.

The next date in the lawsuit is Aug. 11, 2022, the day White published Mississippi Today's 2022 mid-year report which talks about "The Backchannel" series. White writes the series further investigates, "Bryant's misuse and squandering of at least $77 million in federal funds" meant to assist the state's poorest residents.

The lawsuit states "Bryant did not misuse and squander" the welfare funds and "Wolfe's investigative series did not reveal that he did." It states that White's comments "harms Bryant's reputation."

"Mississippi Today acted with actual malice because it either knew the accusation was false or recklessly disregarded its truthfulness," the lawsuit states.

Further, it reads: "Mississippi Today made the false and libelous accusation to exaggerate its accomplishments and to harm Bryant."

The third instance of Mississippi Today and White's "slander" of Bryant, according to the lawsuit, was in February 2023 when White was a panelist in the 16th annual Knight Media Forum. During her time speaking, White said "We're the newsroom that broke the story about $77 million in welfare funds, intended for the poorest people in the poorest state in the nation, being embezzled by a former governor and his bureaucratic cronies to be used on pet projects like a state-of-the-art volleyball stadium at Brett Favre's alma mater."

The lawsuit again denies that Bryant was ever involved in the embezzlement and that White's accusation is "false, slanderous and actionable." It also states that White's comments prove that Wolfe's statement when she was being interviewed on the radio program in December 2021 "was not a mistake and illustrated the institutional belief that fueled the defamation and ethical breaches outlined in this complaint."

On May 10, 2023, Bryant served White and Mississippi Today with written notice of defamation regarding White's speech. On May 17, White published an apology on Mississippi Today's site stating: "I misspoke at a recent media conference regarding the accusations against former Governor Phil Bryant in the $77 million welfare scandal. He has not been charged with any crime. My remark was inappropriate, and I sincerely apologize."

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Bryant's lawsuit calls this statement a "non-apology apology," saying it didn't go far enough because Bryant was not involved in the embezzlement and therefore Mississippi Today never broke a story claiming he was.

The last date to note in the lawsuit is May 8, the day Mississippi Today published an article titled: "Anna Wolfe and Mississippi Today win Pulitzer Prize for 'The Backchannel' investigation."

The article describes the investigation as revealing "for the first time how former Gov. Phil Bryant used his office to steer the spending of millions of federal welfare dollars — money intended to help the state's poorest residents — to benefit his family and friends, including NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre."

The lawsuit again calls this slanderous and denies that Bryant used "his office to steer the spending of millions of federal welfare dollars to benefit his family and friends, and Wolfe's investigative series did not reveal that he did."

A Bryant spokesman said the former governor will prevail in the suit.

"Governor Bryant believes he has been libeled by Mississippi Today. He is confident in the suit he has brought and, through his attorneys, will convince 12 residents of Madison County of just that," Bryant spokesman Denton Gibbes said.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant sues Mississippi Today libel