Former Illinois Republican Rep. Joe Walsh plans to sue the Chicago Sun-Times for printing what he said “is a deliberate attempt to defame” him.
Sun-Times reporter Natasha Korecki on Monday authored an article alleging Walsh, who lost his bid for re-election, is behind on child support payments.
“After insisting he wasn’t a ‘deadbeat dad’ throughout his failed campaign for re-election, ex-U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh is still dogged by questions about child support,” Korecki wrote. “Walsh, a flame-throwing Tea Party Republican who was trying to land a radio deal and last week announced he was forming a new conservative SuperPAC, filed court papers seeking to end his obligation to pay $2,134 per month in child support.”
The Sun-Times article goes on to suggest Walsh is trying to “terminate” his child support payments through a Feb. 1 court filing his attorney Janet Boyle said would be more aptly referred to as a “modification” request.
Walsh said the Sun-Times’ claim about him trying to “terminate” his child support payments “is an absolute lie, and I will no longer stand for it.”
“This article by the Sun Times is a deliberate attempt to defame me, and I will sue them immediately,” Walsh said. “My adult children have been my life. I pledged to them two years ago that I would fight these charges privately to keep them out of the news, but with the Chicago Sun Times fabricating a story, I am, at long last, going to fight back.”
The former congressman and Tea Party star went on to lay out what he says are the facts in the case.
“Here are the facts: My three kids are 25, 22, and 18-years-old. My youngest son will be emancipated in May of this year when he graduates from high school,” Walsh said in a statement posted on his website. “Two weeks ago, I did what every other father who is paying child support is supposed to do — by law — when their employment situation changes — I modified my support agreement.
“With my Congressional term ending on January 3, and with my ex-wife having been paid in full through my term in Congress, by law, I filed a modification of my support payments for my remaining unemancipated child for these next four months. This modification called for me to pay my ex-wife 20% of my net income during these four months, which is my responsibility by law.”
“This is what the law requires me to do, and I’ve met that obligation. I’ve only been out of Congress for a month, and I expect to be employed again very soon,” Walsh added. “Regardless, I will continue with my child support payments by law until my son Patrick is emancipated. This action was not done surreptitiously or with any malice towards my ex-wife. I did exactly what the law required me to do. Nothing was covered-up. Nothing was hidden.”
Walsh also posted screenshots of when Korecki’s original article was published and when she first emailed his lawyer requesting comment. Her article went live on the Sun-Times website at the same minute, 4:48 p.m., as Korecki emailed Walsh’s lawyer. Korecki said she “put in a call to him [Walsh] but his voicemail is saying the voice mailbox is full.”
Walsh said in his website post that Korecki “falsely” made that claim about his voicemail. “That is not true,” Walsh wrote.
Korecki did not respond to Breitbart News’ request for comment in response to Walsh’s plans to sue the Sun-Times over her story. Her editors, Sun-Times editor-in-chief Jim Kirk and news editor Zach Finken, similarly did not respond to comment requests.