Conservative Activist Files $2 Million Lawsuit Against Rep. Rashida Tlaib Over Phone-Grabbing Incident

Conservative activist Laura Loomer has filed a $2 million lawsuit against Rep. Rashida Tlaib over an alleged assault and battery that took place at a campaign event.

Loomer claims that the Michigan Democrat — a member of “The Squad” — assaulted her when she “violently grabbed” her phone at an event for Ilhan Omar last August.

Tlaib was campaigning Aug. 11, 2018, at a northeast Minneapolis restaurant for Omar when Loomer and several others began protesting. “The Star Tribune reported at the time that Loomer’s group shouted questions about the Palestinian group Hamas and genital mutilation,” the paper reports.

Both Omar and Tlaib were then candidates for Congress.

Video of the incident includes audio of Loomer asking Tlaib if she was “willing to admit … that Hamas is a terrorist organization,” WCCO-TV reports. That video also shows “Tlaib grabbing Loomer’s phone as she records her,” the station reports.

Freedom Watch, the conservative group that filed the lawsuit, says that Loomer is suing Tlaib not for political purposes, but to hold the congresswoman accountable for her “unhinged hatred for Jews and Israel.” Larry Klayman, the founder of Freedom Watch, also filed a complaint against Omar earlier this year, seeking a Justice Department investigation into the Minnesota congresswoman.