Former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is running for U.S. Senate and leading in the polls, but his campaign didn’t care much for a reporter’s question about the 69-year-old Democrat’s cognitive health.
The North State Journal said it never received a response from the campaign. Instead, it was hit with a letter from the Elias Law Group, run by Hillary Clinton’s ex-campaign lawyer, Marc Elias.
The letter appeared to threaten the outlet with legal action based on the reporter’s inquiry about the candidate’s health and ability to finish a six-year Senate term.
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“Governor Cooper intends to complete his entire term, and any suggestion that he is ’experiencing a neurological issue,’ or that any health condition would prevent him from completing his term, is categorically false and defamatory,” the letter, sent by Elias Law Group partner Ben Stafford, said.
The Washington Times reached out to Mr. Stafford and to North State Journal.
The letter sent to the outlet is part of an uptick in legal actions taken by public officials against media outlets.
On Wednesday, the White House filed an appeal after a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction stopping President Trump’s team from stripping press credentials from journalists for CNN, Politico and MS NOW.
Mr. Trump accused the outlets of producing “fake news” and said their reporting and continued access to the White House posed a national security threat.
The outlets accused the president of trampling on the First Amendment.
“The political and media class lectures endlessly about threats to a free press. Sending Marc Elias to threaten a newspaper and a reporter personally for asking a question makes a mockery of those lectures,” said David Bozell, president of the conservative-leaning Media Research Center.
The North State Journal said it sent the inquiry about Mr. Cooper because of a string of health-related problems suffered by several top elected leaders that impacted their ability to serve.
The outlet pointed to former President Joseph R. Biden, who appeared hobbled by cognitive decline while in office, GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who missed weeks of work due to illness, and GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who died suddenly in July, forcing a flash primary to replace him on the November ballot.
Mr. Cooper’s cognitive health was discussed on Fox News in June. The Ruthless Podcast co-host known as Comfortably Smug accused Mr. Cooper of “hiding from the media,” and said “folks on the ground” have cited “health concerns.”
Mr. Cooper hasn’t announced any health problems nor has he been absent from work.
The news outlet said it asked Mr. Cooper’s campaign if the governor “was committed to fulfilling his six-year term if elected in November and if there were any health problems that might impede him.”
The Times has not seen the exact request sent by the outlet.
A Cooper campaign spokesman told The Times: “Roy Cooper has held over 350 events over the course of this campaign, is in excellent health and will obviously serve his full term.”
Mr. Cooper is leading Republican Michael Whatley, 58, by nearly 10 points in recent polls.
The two have not participated in any debates.
Mr. Cooper served as governor from 2017 through 2025.
Mr. Elias was a lawyer for Mrs. Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and hired the research firm that produced the fake dossier claiming Mr. Trump was colluding with the Russians to win the 2016 election.
Mr. Elias has remained a top Democratic operative, filing lawsuits to block election laws that seek to prevent fraud and redistricting that favors the GOP.
Mr. Elias’s law firm last month sued to block North Carolina’s new signature verification and envelope security requirements for mail-in ballots.
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