Lloyd Smucker

By Dan Nephin, LNP, Lancaster, Pa. (TNS)

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker has filed a defamation lawsuit against LNP Media Group, the publisher of LNP — LancasterOnline, claiming an editorial printed on Oct. 8 damaged his reputation; he is seeking more than $250,000 in damages.

The suit was filed Monday in Lancaster County Court and comes after an attorney for Smucker demanded an apology and retraction of the editorial in an Oct. 9 letter to executives with LNP Media Group.

No apology nor retraction was issued.

On Monday, LNP — LancasterOnline Editor Tom Murse said in a statement, “The Oct. 8, 2025, editorial expressed an opinion on a matter of public concern, which is the purpose of editorials. Under the First Amendment, expressing opinions — including characterizing one side’s positions as false — is protected speech and does not constitute defamation.”

Smucker’s suit claims the editorial “tended to harm (his) reputation by lowering him in the estimation of the community and deterring others from associating or dealing with him, and such harm was reflected in public statements by others that explicitly relied upon the Defamatory Statement, as well as in numerous complaints received from constituents by Congressman Smucker in response to the Defamatory Statement.”

As such, the suit claimed, “Smucker suffered injury to reputation, loss of professional standing, and credibility.”

Smucker is a Republican first elected to the U.S. House in 2016. His district includes all of Lancaster Countyand the southern half of York County.

Lawmaker’s complaint

The Oct. 8 editorial said Smucker was “lying to his constituents” by saying in a newsletter that Democrats were pushing for “taxpayer-funded free healthcare for illegal immigrants.”

The editorial also said Smucker “and his fellow Republicans are playing a cynical game of Twister, stretching and contorting reality to sell a falsehood.”

The editorial was based on an Oct. 3 article that fact-checked comments made by Smucker in a constituent newsletter. Among the claims in the congressman’s newsletter: “Liberals demanded taxpayer-funded free healthcare for illegal immigrants.”

LNP’s Oct. 3 fact-check said, “The Republican charge that Democrats want to provide free health care to illegal immigrants is an exaggeration. The Democrats’alternative stopgap seeks to restore benefits to non-citizens who are in the country legally. But the complex nature of the Medicaid program and the multiple ways the federal government provides funding to health care providers make it almost certain that some money would indirectly cover the costs of caring for non-citizens who are here illegally.”

Smucker’s suit contends that the words “almost certain” exceed the standard of proof that a public figure must show to prove that a defendant acted with malice. That is, the suit claims, LNP published the editorial either despite knowing it was false or by “ignoring readily available materials that would have disproven the allegations.”

The editorial “used declarative language, purported sourcing, and factual context that would lead a reasonable reader to understand the Defamatory Statement as a factual allegation, not a subjective viewpoint,” the suit said.

Murse said LNP — LancasterOnline stands by its editorial process and remains committed to fostering community engagement on important issues.

“Congressman Smucker has been and remains welcome to submit a guest column, letter, or op-ed to LNP — LancasterOnline at any time, whether to respond to this issue or to share his views on other matters important to his constituents,” Murse wrote.

The editorial, citing PolitiFact’s analysis, said “(i)mmigrants in the country illegally may receive care in hospital emergency rooms, which are required by federal law to screen and treat anyone with an emergency medical condition. Emergency Medicaid covers that care — but it does so to help hospitals recover their costs, not to benefit the immigrants. And the dollars involved are relatively minimal.”

Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, said in an email, “When public officials threaten the press for expressing opinions about their official action, it can undermine the essential role of journalism and chill protected speech. A free, robust press is necessary to democracy, and journalists must be able to report without fear of retaliation.”

A request to Smucker for comment was not returned as of Monday at 6 p.m.

The complaint he filed names LNP Media Group Inc. as the defendant. That entity’s previous owner, Pennon, transferred ownership of the newspaper to Always Lancaster, a new nonprofit organization that will run LNP — LancasterOnline and two weekly newspapers. Former NPR ”Morning Edition" host and Lancaster native David Greene is leading Always Lancaster.

Smucker’s attorneys

An email and voice message left for Smucker attorney Wally Zimolong were not immediately returned on Monday.

Zimolong, a Villanova attorney, was involved in at least one legal challenge to the 2020 presidential election results on behalf of President Donald Trump. His work on that case drew an ethics complaint to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, but no action was taken. He was hired by Lancaster County Commissioners Josh Parsons and Ray D’Agostino in 2024 to defend the county’s rejection of some mail ballots.

Zimolong is listed on the suit along with Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, the attorney who wrote the October letter demanding an apology and retraction. Cuccinelli, a former Virginia attorney general, is not admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania, but indicated in the lawsuit that he would be seeking court permission to represent Smucker.

Cuccinelli is perhaps best known for his strongly held conservative views on subjects of abortion and sex. Investigators looking into the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol said texts from Cuccinelli, who was a Homeland Security deputy secretary, and his then-boss, Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, were missing and thus unable to be turned over per a congressional subpoena.

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