Thread by @SethAbramson

"Grifting" (fraud or theft for financial gain) is a crime; accusations of grifting without evidence are libel. Tweeting out such accusations under the @MSNBC imprimatur generates legal liability for @MSNBC. I put up with this for too long; these malicious, false attacks stop now.

https://twitter.com/AndrewSolender/status/1152999278656262144

@MSNBC I don't have a Patreon; my analyses are offered on Twitter for free. I write books, but I've been doing so for 15 years now. I'm a Newsweek columnist, I teach journalism at a large public research university, and I have never "grifted" in my entire goddamn life. I'm sick of this.

@MSNBC There's been an assumption—for a long time now—that journalists can make false claims of "grifting" (criminal activity) without getting sued by those whose professional reputations they're trying to destroy. That ends now. @MSNBC can take some sort of corrective action, or I can.

@MSNBC I told @AndrewSolender he was tweeting libels under the @MSNBC imprimatur; he continued to make a joke about it. My life isn't someone else's joke—I've worked hard to live an ethical professional life, and I'm sick of seeing it casually attacked by journalists looking for clicks.

@MSNBC @AndrewSolender Michael Wolff published a book largely based on the words of a known liar—Steve Bannon—and you can find that book in the airport. I'm publishing books based on thousands of major-media citations that I then made available for free to all readers. And I have *no* Patreon account.

@MSNBC @AndrewSolender I'm worried sick for America, as we all should be, and that's why I publish legal and political analysis for free online. Every day. And have been doing so for years. At some point the false claims of criminal activity have to stop while we focus on actual dangers to our country.

@MSNBC @AndrewSolender That's all I have to say. Now it's back to doing another 100 hours of pro bono work that'll be called "grifting" (criminal fraud or theft) by "journalists" without any evidence. Maybe these journalists should figure out how to properly report on Trump rather than misreport on me.