Sarah Palin slaps the New York Times with a lawsuit — here's why

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is suing the New York Times over an editorial that caused an online furor for suggesting that she was responsible for Jared Loughner attacking then-Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords in 2011.

In the stunning opinion piece from the New York Times editorial board, the article said the crazed gunman Jared Loughner was influenced by a map with gun crosshairs above electoral districts.

“In 2011, when Jared Lee Loughner opened fire in a supermarket parking lot," it read, "grievously wounding Representative Gabby Giffords and killing six people, including a 9-year-old girl, the link to political incitement was clear. Before the shooting, Sarah Palin’s political action committee circulated a map of targeted electoral districts that put Ms. Giffords and 19 other Democrats under stylized crosshairs."

Contrary to their statement, there is absolutely no evidence that Loughner saw that map, or that he was motivated by any political animus at all. He had become obsessed with Giffords long before the map was distributed, and he was found to be impaired by severe mental illness.

The New York Times later apologized and corrected the piece, but not before Palin took notice and lambasted them on her Facebook page.

"With this sickening NYT's editorial, the media is doing exactly what I said yesterday should not be done," she wrote. "Despite commenting as graciously as I could on media coverage of yesterday's shooting, alas, today a perversely biased media's knee-jerk blame game is attempting to destroy innocent people with lies and more fake news.

"As I said yesterday," she continued, "I'd hoped the media had collectively matured since the last attack on a representative when media coverage spewed blatant lies about who was to blame. There's been no improvement. The NYT has gotten worse."

CNN's Jake Tapper posted the first page of the complaint against New York Times that accused the newspaper of defamation.

He added that there was zero evidence of their claim.

As I reported then, there is 0 evidence Loughner was incited by Palin and his obsession w Giffords began years before Palin CD target map

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) June 27, 2017

Palin is seeking damages to be determined by a jury at trial, according to the New York Post.