The Scoop
The owner of The Baltimore Sun is threatening to sue Maryland Gov. Wes Moore over comments the governor made linking him to Jeffrey Epstein.
During an appearance on MS NOW on June 16, Moore was asked about the newspaper’s recent critical reporting on Moore’s administration and past military record. The Maryland governor dismissed the reporting as a political hit and tried to tie Sinclair’s executive chairman, David Smith, to the disgraced billionaire financier.
In a letter sent in June and seen by Semafor, a lawyer for Smith argued that Moore’s claims were potentially defamatory and made a list of demands: The governor should issue a “clear, unequivocal public retraction and correction,” the letter said, and publish a retraction or “identify, at least at a high level, the factual basis (if any) on which you relied in making the statement.” The letter, sent by attorney Harold Walter, also asked Moore’s team to preserve all documents related to Smith and any potential ties to Epstein.
“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,” the letter said.
Moore’s team said the governor is standing by his comments.
In a note sent on Tuesday, a personal attorney for the governor said that Epstein’s funds had owned several hundred thousand dollars’ worth of investments in Sinclair when Smith was the chairman and CEO of the right-leaning local television broadcaster.
“The statement made by Governor Moore is absolutely and indisputably true and, therefore, your assertion that the statement is defamatory is meritless,” Moore’s lawyer, Joseph Sandler, said in a letter first shared with Semafor.
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The exchange is the latest flare-up in a yearslong battle between the owners of Maryland’s most famous legacy news outlet and its Democratic governor.
Smith, a Republican donor who told Trump in 2016 that the company was “here to deliver your message,” bought the Sun from hedge fund owner Alden Global Capital in 2024. In the years since, the paper has focused more heavily on local crime stories and adopted a more right-leaning posture in its editorials and op-eds.
But the area that has forced it into the most conflict with Moore’s camp is its ongoing investigation into the governor’s military record, which the Sun reported has “gaps and discrepancies.”
Moore’s team has described the paper’s ongoing investigation into his military service as politically motivated, and highlighted Smith’s personal involvement in the paper’s reporting. As Semafor previously reported, Smith was copied on emails from the Baltimore Sun’s reporting team — an unusual arrangement at a newspaper, which typically keep their commercial and editorial sides separate, particularly when reporting on political figures. At one point in February, Smith attempted to retract an email that the Sun’s reporters sent to the governor’s communications team.
Max’s view
Smith’s June letter is a remarkable move from the owner of a media company. Media companies are usually the focus of defamation claims, and they try not to create legal precedent that could be used in potential lawsuits against themselves.
The open battle between the Sun and Moore is also the latest sign of increasing tensions between the left wing of the Democratic Party and the legacy media.
Former Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner for months survived while a series of difficult stories about him were published in The Wall Street Journal, CNN, and The New York Times. He circumvented legacy media in favor of friendly outlets, while his allies took to online posts to attack and dismiss the credibility of the Times’ sources and its journalists. And as Semafor previously reported, Zohran Mamdani’s team has refused to appear on The View over comments one host made about one of the New York City Democratic congressional candidates that the mayor has supported.