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WEST VIRGINIA RECORD

Thursday, March 28, 2024

ABC News plans to air Blankenship interview-skirmish April 7

CHARLESTON - ABC News plans to air its report on Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship's effect on the state Supreme Court Monday.

The piece will be featured on "World News with Charles Gibson" and "Nightline."

According to ABC News, an interview with Blankenship got physical. It says he told a reporter, "If you're going to start taking pictures of me, you're liable to get shot," in the parking lot of an office in Kentucky.

ABC says tape of the incident shows Blankenship grabbing the camera and breaking its microphone. Reporter Asa Eslocker says Blankenship grabbed him around the collar with both hands.

Blankenship's attorney wrote to ABC, claiming, "Mr. Blankenship has been a frequent target for harassment and physical attacks over the years, so his reaction is not so surprising when you consider that he was approached unannounced by an intruder on private property."

In a report in the Charleston Daily Mail, Blankenship said he didn't remember making any threats.

The relationship between Blankenship and Chief Justice Spike Maynard has been called into question since photographs of the two together in Monaco surfaced. They claimed they were coincidentally vacationing at the same time and place.

Blankenship also put millions into unseating Warren McGraw in 2004, helping Brent Benjamin earn a spot on the Court. Maynard, facing re-election, has recused himself from all of Massey's pending cases, while Benjamin has refused. Fellow justice Larry Starcher has long been critical of Blankenship, publicly calling him "stupid" and "a clown."

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