A Republican Nebraska governor candidate who is backed by former President Donald Trump filed a defamation lawsuit Friday against a GOP state lawmaker who accused him of groping her at a local party event in 2019.
The campaign of Charles W. Herbster alleges in the lawsuit that state Sen. Julie Slama falsely accused him and hurt his reputation in an effort to derail his campaign ahead of the state GOP’s hotly contested May 10 primary.
The suit in state district court describes Herbster as “the victim of a politically motivated and groundless attack by a political opponent, who resorted to false and malicious lies” accusing him of scandalous behavior.
Herbster is locked in a competitive race with University of Nebraska Regent Jim Pillen and state Sen. Brett Lindstrom, among other candidates. Pillen won the endorsement of prominent party officials, including Slama and multimillionaire Gov. Pete Ricketts, who has sharply criticized Herbster as unqualified for the job and has acknowledged that he has spent money on dark-money ads against him.
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