On Monday in Dallas, former congressman Beto O'Rourke said he's being sued for defamation by Dallas billionaire Kelcy Warren. Warren is the CEO of Energy Transfer Partners.
The Democratic gubernatorial nominee claims energy companies made illegal profits from last year's winter storm that left millions without power.
O'Rourke said the lawsuit was filed in a district court in San Saba County.
He claims because Governor Greg Abbott let energy companies charge whatever they wanted during last year's storm, they made billions. In return, he claims Warren gave a million dollars to Abbott's campaign.
O’Rourke called Warren's lawsuit: "frivolous."
"He is going to try to take me to court, use his billions of dollars to try to shut me down and shut us up from telling the story of what happened to the people of Texas," O'Rourke said.
Energy Transfer released this statement to KRLD:
Beto O’Rourke clearly hasn’t read or doesn’t understand the lawsuit filed personally by Kelcy Warren. Mr. Warren is not interested in barring Mr. O’Rourke from talking about the winter storm. That is the right of every Texan and every American. What Mr. Warren is interested in stopping are the irresponsible, defamatory and highly offensive statements by Mr. O’Rourke related to his donation to Governor Abbott’s campaign. This is also the right of every Texan and every American to contribute to the campaigns of candidates they support without being defamed in the process. Mr. O’Rourke’s statements are flat-out false, and they appear to have been made for political gain in a desperate attempt to overcome what appears to be a weakening campaign to unseat Governor Abbott.