A Texas oil pipeline billionaire is suing Beto O'Rourke for defamation after the Democrat criticised his $1 million donation to Republican Governor Greg Abbott's campaign following last year's deadly winter blackout.
Mr O'Rourke, who won the Democratic nomination for governor last week, called the lawsuit frivolous during a news conference on Monday. Court records show it was filed in February in rural West Texas.
The donor, Kelcy Warren, is the chairman of Energy Transfer. The oil pipeline company reported $6.7 billion in net income last year, including about $2.4bn in earnings related to the catastrophic February 2021 winter storm in Texas that sent natural gas prices soaring. Four months later, Ms Warren gave the Abbott campaign $1m, his largest single political contribution in a decade, of donations to Republican candidates in Texas, according to state campaign finance records.
Mr O'Rourke has made the failure of Texas' power grid - and Mr Abbott's handling of the aftermath - a cornerstone of his underdog campaign. He has accused the two-term governor of letting energy companies off the hook by not mandating more significant industry oversight or weatherisation.
Mr O'Rourke tweeted that energy executives “bought off” Mr Abbott and at times singled out Ms Warren, calling to stop the contribution during one campaign, saying “looks like a bribe to me”.
The lawsuit filed in San Saba County seeks unspecified compensation.
“O’Rourke intended that his malicious and baseless defamatory statements publicly humiliate Warren and discourage others from contributing to Governor Abbott’s campaign,” the lawsuit reads.
Energy Transfer said comments by O’Rourke are “flat-out false.” Renae Eze, a spokeswoman for Abbott, said their campaign “is in no way involved in this lawsuit”.
Before last month's primary, Mr O'Rourke spent two weeks highlighting the fallout from the winter storm in stops across Texas. He accused Ms Warren of trying to shut him down.
“We're on the most solid ground possible,” Mr O'Rourke told reporters in Dallas.
Squads
India (for first three ODIs) Kohli (capt), Rohit, Rahul, Pandey, Jadhav, Rahane, Dhoni, Pandya, Axar, Kuldeep, Chahal, Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar, Umesh, Shami.
Australia Smith (capt), Warner, Agar, Cartwright, Coulter-Nile, Cummins, Faulkner, Finch, Head, Maxwell, Richardson, Stoinis, Wade, Zampa.
2.0
Director: S Shankar
Producer: Lyca Productions; presented by Dharma Films
Cast: Rajnikanth, Akshay Kumar, Amy Jackson, Sudhanshu Pandey
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Company profile
Name: Oulo.com
Founder: Kamal Nazha
Based: Dubai
Founded: 2020
Number of employees: 5
Sector: Technology
Funding: $450,000
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
Results
2pm: Maiden (TB) Dh60,000 (Dirt) 1,200m, Winner: Mouheeb, Tom Marquand (jockey), Nicholas Bachalard (trainer)
2.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh68,000 (D) 1,200m, Winner: Honourable Justice, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer
3pm: Handicap (TB) Dh84,000 (D) 1,200m, Winner: Dahawi, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi
3.30pm: Conditions (TB) Dh100,000 (D) 1,200m, Winner: Dark Silver, Fernando Jara, Ahmad bin Harmash
4pm: Maiden (TB) Dh60,000 (D) 1,600m, Winner: Dark Of Night. Antonio Fresu, Al Muhairi.
4.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh68,000 (D) 1,600m, Winner: Habah, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson
Tamkeen's offering
- Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
- Option 2: 50% across three years
- Option 3: 30% across five years
Roger Federer's record at Wimbledon
Roger Federer's record at Wimbledon
1999 - 1st round
2000 - 1st round
2001 - Quarter-finalist
2002 - 1st round
2003 - Winner
2004 - Winner
2005 - Winner
2006 - Winner
2007 - Winner
2008 - Finalist
2009 - Winner
2010 - Quarter-finalist
2011 - Quarter-finalist
2012 - Winner
2013 - 2nd round
2014 - Finalist
2015 - Finalist
2016 - Semi-finalist
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20SAMSUNG%20GALAXY%20Z%20FOLD5
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The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
