Lawyers for Amy and Kylie Jane Kremer sent a strong letter to Rolling Stone Magazine demanding they retract a story run on November 23, falsely accusing them of using burner phones to communicate with the White House and Trump family on January 6th.
The article, titled “Jan. 6 Organizers Used Anonymous Burner Phones to Communicate with White House and Trump Family, Sources Say,” was still up at the time the letter was sent.
Read the full letter below:
Dear Mr. Shachtman:
Our firm is litigation counsel for Amy and Kylie Jane Kremer. We write concerning the false and defamatory statements published by Rolling Stone on November 23, 2021, in the article titled, “Jan. 6 Organizers Used Anonymous Burner Phones to Communicate with White House and Trump Family, Sources Say.” Specifically, the article falsely states that Kylie Kremer used “burner phones” to “communicate with top White House and Trump campaign officials.” The article also states that Ms. Kremer directed someone else to purchase burner phones “with cash.” These statements imply that Ms. Kremer was involved in some nefarious activity by directing the cash purchase of and use of “burner phones” during the organization of the January 6, 2021 Save America on the Ellipse. These statements are false. To be clear, at no time did either Kylie Jane Kremer or Amy Kremer direct anyone to purchase a burner phone with cash or otherwise, nor did they use a burner phone to communicate with anyone, let alone anyone identified in the article.
The term, burner phone, as commonly understood means a cheap disposable cell phone used to obscure the user’s identity during the conduct of illegal or illicit activities. Rolling Stone understands the implications of the use of the term burner phone, as noted in the article:
Burner phones — cheap, prepaid cells designed for temporary usage — do not require users to have an account. This makes them hard to trace and ideal for those who are seeking anonymity — particularly if they are purchased with cash. The use of burner phones could make it more difficult for congressional investigators to find evidence of coordination between Trump’s team and rally planners.
These statements and intentional implications of participating in, or passively condoning the criminal activity that occurred at the Capitol on January 6th are patently false and defamatory, and are extremely damaging. Kylie Jane Kremer nor Amy Kremer did not participate in any illegal or illicit activity on January 6, 2021, nor did they participate in any such illegal or illicit activity leading up to the peaceful permitted event on the Ellipse on that date.
Rolling Stone’s wholesale adoption of false statements by unreliable anonymous sources without even attempting to confirm the information indicates a clear disregard for the truth and basic journalistic principles. That Rolling Stone referenced its earlier unreliable reporting based on those same unreliable anonymous sources without conducting any independent review to confirm the same, is indefensible. Actual malice can easily be proven based on Rolling Stone’s reckless disregard of the truth, in a clear attempt to mislead the public for political reasons or some other ulterior motives.
To avoid our taking immediate steps to seek injunctive relief in court, Rolling Stone must satisfy the following demands:
(1) Rolling Stone must immediately retract, correct, and apologize for making the false statement in the article;
(2) Rolling Stone must immediately cease and desist from publishing any false or misleading statements about Amy Kremer or Kylie Jane Kremer; and
(3) Rolling Stone must immediately remove and delete the false statements from all its social media accounts and platforms; and
(4) confirm to our office its compliance with these demands by January 3, 2021.
Should Rolling Stone fail to accomplish the foregoing, the Kremers intend to take all necessary next steps to remedy the harm he has suffered and continues to suffer.
EVIDENCE PRESERVATION DEMAND
Litigation is likely to ensue in this matter. Under governing state and federal laws, Rolling Stone has an obligation to maintain copies of documents, including email and call recordings and other documents relevant to this dispute, as well as all other electronically stored information pertaining to Amy and Kylie Jane Kremer. We also request that Rolling Stone immediately initiate a litigation hold for potentially relevant ESI, documents, and tangible things and to act diligently and in good faith to secure and audit compliance with such litigation hold.
Rolling Stone is hereby given notice to immediately take all steps necessary to prevent the destruction, loss, concealment, or alteration of any paper, document, or electronically stored information (“ESI”), including browser activity, and other data or information generated by and/or stored on Rolling Stone’s computers and storage media (e.g., hard disks, thumb drives, backup tapes, cloud storage etc.), and e-mail related to this dispute, including, but not limited to the following: (1) Rolling Stone’s review of the article and all revision history related thereto; (2) any investigation conducted by Rolling Stone regarding Amy and Kylie Jane Kremer and the events set forth in the article; (3) any complaints, claims, allegations, grievances, correspondence, or communications regarding Amy and Kylie Jane Kremer; (4) all documentation and correspondence regarding Amy and Kylie Jane Kremer; and (5) records of all relevant ID names, manuals, tutorials, written instructions, decompression or reconstruction software, and any and all other information and things necessary to access, view; and (if necessary) reconstruct any ESI.
Adequate preservation of ESI requires more than simply refraining from efforts to destroy or dispose of such evidence. Rolling Stone must also intervene to prevent loss due to routine operations and employ proper techniques to safeguard all such evidence. Rolling Stone should immediately identify and modify or suspend features of its operations, information systems, and devices that, in routine operations, operate to cause the loss of documents, tangible items, or ESI. Examples of such features and operations include, but are not limited to, purging the contents of e-mail repositories by age, capacity, or other criteria; using data or media wiping, disposal, erasure, or encryption utilities or devices; overwriting, erasing, destroying, or discarding back-up media; re-assigning, re-imaging or disposing of systems, servers, devices, or media; running antivirus or other programs that alter metadata; using metadata stripper utilities; and destroying documents or any ESI by age or other criteria.
Rolling Stone’s failure to comply with all statutory document and data preservation obligations that now exist may be severe, including monetary sanctions, terminating sanctions, or other sanctions. Please forward a copy of this letter to all persons and entities possessing or controlling potentially relevant evidence. Rolling Stone’s obligation to preserve potentially relevant evidence is required by law.
Your immediate attention to this matter is required. Please contact this office no later than January 3, 2021 to confirm compliance with the above demands. If you have any questions about the contents of this letter, please contact me or my colleague, Michael Columbo.
mcolumbo@dhillonlaw.com
Sincerely,
David A. Warrington
Counsel for Amy and Kylie Jane Kremer
*At the time of this letter, the article remains available online at the following url: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/jan-6-rally-organizers-trump-white-house-1262122/
Click here for the Kremer’s fundraising link
