A new filing reveals that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi settled with an Illinois man and paid him $7,500 after he accused her of violating federal robocalling laws.
“In October 2022, a Bolingbrook, Illinois resident named Jorge Rojas filed a 13-page lawsuit in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois that accused the former speaker of the House and her campaign of violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991,” Business Insider reported.
“That law, which has been found to apply to text messages in addition to calls, applies restrictions to robocalling and requires telemarketers not to contact individuals who’ve placed themselves on the Do Not Call Registry,” the outlet added.
“According to the suit, Rojas received 21 texts from Pelosi’s campaign from November 2021 to July 2022 despite previously placing himself on the registry in 2008 to ‘obtain solitude from invasive and harassing telemarketing calls,’” Business Insider reported.
Rojas’s complaint began his complaint stating: “As the Supreme Court has explained, Americans passionately disagree about many things. But they are largely united in their disdain for robocalls.”
Rojas went on to argue in his lawsuit that he “experienced frustration, annoyance, irritation, and a sense that his privacy has been invaded” by the texts from Pelosi’s campaign. He added that the texts constituted “malicious, intentional, willful, reckless, wanton and negligent disregard” for his rights.
Rojas sought minimum damages of $31,500 from Pelosi’s campaign, including $1,500 for each text message he received.
Rojas moved to dismiss the lawsuit against Pelosi in February, a few months after he initially submitted it.
“And according to federal campaign finance disclosures made public on Friday, the dismissal came after Rojas received a $7,500 payment marked ‘Settlement’ from Pelosi’s congressional campaign,” Insider reported.
Pelosi was criticized last month after she was among those who tweeted following the indictment of former President Donald Trump by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Some have compared Pelosi’s comments to the news to those of Joseph Stalin and the former Soviet Union.
“The Grand Jury has acted upon the facts and the law. No one is above the law, and everyone has the right to a trial to prove innocence. Hopefully, the former President will peacefully respect the system, which grants him that right,” the former Speaker said.
No one in the United States is required to demonstrate their innocence. And that prompted context-adding fact checks from Twitter users.
“Ms. Pelosi mistakenly says that Trump can prove his innocence at trial. Law in the US assumes the innocence of a defendant and the prosecution must prove guilt for a conviction,” the note said.
The Grand Jury has acted upon the facts and the law.
No one is above the law, and everyone has the right to a trial to prove innocence.
Hopefully, the former President will peacefully respect the system, which grants him that right.
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) March 31, 2023
“A presumption of innocence means that any defendant in a criminal trial is assumed to be innocent until they have been proven guilty. As such, a prosecutor is required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the person committed the crime if that person is to be convicted. To do so, proof must be shown for every single element of a crime,” Cornell University Law School said.
“The right to ‘prove innocence’? This is America, not Stalinist Russia,” Republican Missouri Senator Josh Hawley said.
The right to “prove innocence”? This is America, not Stalinist Russia. https://t.co/v5ELf9Rth6
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) March 31, 2023
More on this story via Conservative Brief:
“Nancy Pelosi is dead wrong here. Does she really have no clue that the burden is not on a defendant to prove their innocence at trial?” Lee Zeldin, former Republican candidate for governor of New York said. CONTINUE READING…
