On Wednesday morning in the Capitol building in Austin, Republican state Rep. Jeff Leach of Plano was served with notice he is begin sued for defamation during a hearing for House Bill 4142, “relating to the award of attorney's fees in an action to enforce a motor vehicle mortgagee's lien.”
The bill itself is neither here nor there in this scenario.
Scott Braddock of the Quorum Report tweeted at 9:20 a.m. “Wild: Texas House Judiciary Chairman @leachfortexas says he's been sued in Parker County by someone upset with Leach's opposition to Rep Slaton @BryanforHD2's bill to secede from the US. Leach just announced this in committee. Not clear what the cause of action is.”
Adding to the unusual nature of this is that the process server who delivered notice of the lawsuit to Leach signed up to testify during the bill hearing under false pretenses, apparently. In a 42-second video clip tweeted by news outlet Current Revolt and retweeted by Braddock, Leach asked a man to confirm he is there to testify, and the man immediately clarified he is there as a representative of National Process Service and that he has “a citation here for you [Leach] at Parker County. You have 20 days from today to contact Parker County clerk’s office,” before approaching Leach, who was sitting behind a dais, to hand him the citation.
A voice from out of the camera’s view then asked the server, dressed in a black short-sleeve, button-up shirt and blue jeans, “are you going to testify on the bill? You signed an affidavit.” Leach also inquired about the man’s intentions, to which the server, as he walked back to the witness table, simply said “neutral.”
Looks like the man who served @leachfortexas with the lawsuit this morning signed up to testify on a bill - misrepresenting what he was there to do - then served Leach with the legal paperwork #TxLege https://t.co/uFzx3azc9Z
— Scott Braddock (@scottbraddock) April 19, 2023
Leach is being sued by Morgan McComb. According to a copy of the lawsuit published by The Texan, McComb, whose Twitter bio reads “A TRUE Conservative TX Grassroots Leader, Mom & Patriot Community RE-Organizer. Rescues horses. God Guns Guts and Glory!,” took issue with Leach’s reply to one of her tweets from March 6. Seems she took $250,000 worth of issue with the representative's tweet, as that is the amount she is seeking in the suit.
“@leachfortexas Are you accusing me of treasonous sedition? A person who is tired of living under the boot of the federal govt. Texans who love this state?” McComb asked in a March 6 tweet, one of many that day from her feed aimed at Leach’s opposition to Slaton’s pro-secession bill.
Leach replied to McComb’s question by quote-tweeting his reply, which said “If you believe Texas should secede from the United States of American# - then yes. Unequivocally yes.” That was one of several tweets from the same day addressing Slaton’s “Texit” bill, which calls for a statewide, non-binding referendum asking voters whether the state should secede.
If you believe that Texas should secede from the United States of American# - then yes. Unequivocally yes. https://t.co/CsfvhoZwVk
— Jeff Leach (@leachfortexas) March 7, 2023
Leach issued a statement on Thursday afternoon in response to the lawsuit, saying “Needless to say, the claims are entirely without merit and I intend on fighting back — and doing so vigorously. As Chairman of the Texas House Judiciary Committee — I know first-hand that the Texas Justice system works to ensure justice and to safeguard our Constitutional liberties and freedoms. And I am confident that this case will be no different. This will be my only statement on this matter and any future inquiries will be directed to my counsel.”
When the Observer reported on the “Texit” bill in March, Leach declined to comment on his opposition to Texas secession. For his part, Slaton has found himself in the news plenty over the last few weeks, having come under fire for alleged sexual misconduct. Some fellow Republicans have called on the married representative to resign after he was accused of serving an underage intern alcohol at his Austin apartment late at night and having sex with her.
McComb and her attorney, Paul Davis, have each brought a large amount of trouble their own way in the name of Making America Great Again.
In October 2020, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that McComb was arrested for allegedly creating a Facebook account, then using “the name and photo of a rival Republican campaign operative in Frisco, according to the police affidavit.” She was also alleged to have published other “campaigner’s records from family court, psychological and counseling records, and a criminal court record.” She was indicted in 2021 on a charge of online impersonation. That case is still pending.
Davis, McComb’s attorney, was one of many North Texans who made the MAGA-themed trek to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2020, the day of the Capitol riot. According to a 2022 interview with Business Insider, Davis said he found his life changed dramatically after he returned home from Washington.
“Davis said his fiancée started to act cold toward him after a local Texas news station tweeted out that he lived in Frisco,” the report noted. “The 40-year-old said he feared a mob would show up outside his door and asked his dad to pick up his house keys from his fiancée and remove his guns and gold from the house.”
Davis claims his fiancee left him and that he lost his job and many friends for his trip. But he told Business Insider that he didn't regret going since he felt it was a part of “God’s plan” for his life.
Leach has not yet publicly responded to the lawsuit.
