Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) has threatened to sue a publication after it revealed details of his tax returns, which he had sent to them by mistake.

According to Lagniappe Daily, which broke the original story, “In a cease-and-desist letter emailed Saturday afternoon, the former Auburn coach’s attorneys demanded the article be removed, accused Lagniappe of ‘unlawfully accessing’ the information.” The letter further “claimed it was illegally published without Tuberville’s consent, and … it was not protected speech under the First Amendment.”

  • fizzle@quokk.au
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    8 hours ago

    I dislike this turd as much as the next guy but honestly, the newspaper shouldn’t have published and it’s fair enough he sent a cease and desist notice.

    If it were AOC’s private information being published in this way you’d be outraged.

    A cease and desist says stop fucking around or I’ll take legal action.

    Everyone has emailed the wrong thing to the wrong person before.

    If someone sends you something by mistake then if you’re unable to disregard it completely then the bare minimum standard is to contact them or their representative and ensure they’re aware.

    • BassTurd@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      Nah, fuck that. If you are stupid enough to send sensitive information to the literal body who’s job it is to post information, then this is how it works.

      If it were AOC, I would absolutely believe they should be posted. I think it should be required that every individual that holds an elected position in government should be required to share this information publicly. I extra agree with it for people that are the shittiest.

      Tuberville is a cunt, and he should have not been an idiot. Cease and desist means fuck all when someone voluntarily hands over information.

    • spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.worksOP
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      8 hours ago

      If AOC had emailed her tax info out you know damn well that Fox, Newsmax and the rest of the GOP propaganda machine would not have hesitated to publish every detail and it would be her own damned fault. The idea that the Republicans would ever abide by anything resembling a political golden rule is credulous at best and it is one of the things that has created the right wing control of all three branches of government .

      Tuberville is the very incarnation of stupid, created his own problem and deserves every bit of it. Now he’s going to learn about the Streisand Effect and he’ll deserve that too.

    • paranoid@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      There is no legal action to be taken - the cease and desist is an empty threat. If the tax returns were sent by him to the newspaper, they can report on them.

      An equivalent story is the guy from the Atlantic being added to the signal group chat.

      Many politicians voluntarily release their tax returns. Doing so accidentally is obviously not great, but threatening legal action to prevent reporting on them is a red flag.

    • fonix232@fedia.io
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      8 hours ago

      Hard disagree. Politicians represent the people, their finances - including investments - should be transparent and immediately available.

      That is the only way to ensure corruption is reduced.

      • OwOarchist@pawb.social
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        8 hours ago

        Yep. Politicians’ (and candidates’) tax returns should be public … and so should ALL their financial information as well. We should be looking at any politician’s bank statements and stock transactions and credit card transactions and utility bills anytime we want, available instantly, as soon as they happen. They should be required to report how much cash is in their wallet on a daily basis. We should be able to tell whether or not they’re subscribed to Netflix and where they stopped for breakfast this morning. And if you don’t want that huge invasion of privacy: no problem – just don’t run for office.

        • BassTurd@lemmy.world
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          6 hours ago

          No, that’s fucking stupid. People, even politicians should be allowed a level of privacy. It doesn’t matter to you at all if they have netflix, and if it does, go see a therapist.

          Tax statements and any trade information should absolutely be public knowledge. Monitoring someone’s cash and credit card statements is some predator level shit.

          • OwOarchist@pawb.social
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            5 hours ago

            People, even politicians should be allowed a level of privacy.

            No, not politicians. They should have to sacrifice their privacy in return for power. Because the risk of corruption is too high. Leave nowhere for it to hide, nowhere at all.

            • BassTurd@lemmy.world
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              2 hours ago

              Yes, corruption via their Netflix subscription. Dumb take.

              You also want cameras in their bathrooms so they aren’t making secret deals while they shit? Gotta cover all your creepy bases.

    • OwOarchist@pawb.social
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      8 hours ago

      A cease and desist says stop fucking around or I’ll take legal action.

      Take what legal action? The news outlet violated no laws here.