Former “60 Minutes” correspondent Lara Logan has filed a $25 million defamation suit against New York Media and writer Joe Hagan for a story that ran in New York magazine in 2014 titled “Benghazi and the Bombshell.”
The story concerned a report by Logan in 2013 on “60 Minutes” about the 2012 attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Four Americans were killed in the attack, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens.
The report was retracted one month after it aired after it was determined that a key interview in the story included false information.
“The headline reference to ‘Bombshell’ was both sexist, insulting and defamatory at the same time,” Logan’s lawsuit states. It refers to the story as the “Hagan Hit Piece.”
The lawsuit contends that the story ended up costing Logan financially and that it portrayed her in a misleading light.
“The word was intended to portray Logan as a dangerous and untouchable and incendiary reporter,” the lawsuit states.
Logan also charges that Hagan’s piece included several false statements. Hagan referred to a “groping” of Logan while the reporter was on assignment in Egypt; Logan said she was the victim of a gang rape.
Logan’s report included an interview with British security contractor Dylan Davies, who provided misleading statements about his actions on the night of the attack on Sept. 11, 2012. Davies’s book, “The Embassy House,” had provided the same false account of his actions during the attack. Simon & Schuster, which is owned by CBS Corp., recalled the book as a result.
