Nicholas Sandmann: Former student at centre of MAGA hat row says Trump victim of unfair media coverage

Teenager settled lawsuit against CNN out of court

A former Kentucky high school student who was embroiled in controversy after being filmed in an encounter with a Native American while wearing a MAGA hat, has claimed the media treats the president unfairly.

Nicholas Sandmann, who was recorded in January 2019 engaging in a face-off with an elderly protester on the Mall in Washington DC, claimed he had personally been the victim of the media.

The then-schoolboy was widely portrayed as having been the protagonist in the encounter, although a longer video later showed that protester Nathan Phillips had approached him.

Soon after the incident, the family of Mr Sandmann, who had been on a school trip to DC organised by Covington Catholic High School, filed several lawsuits, including one against the Washington Post and a second against CNN.

The defamation lawsuit against the Post seeking $250m was dismissed. The suit against CNN was settled out of court in January 2020.

In a speech to the Republican National Convention, Mr Sandmann claimed his life had changed overnight after being filmed with Mr Phillips.

“My life changed forever in that one moment,” he said, in comments pre-recorded at the Lincoln Memorial.

“The full war machine of the mainstream media revved up into attack mode. They did so without ever researching the full video of the incident, without ever investigating Mr. Phillips’ motives or without ever asking me for my side of the story. And do you know why? Because the truth wasn’t important. Advancing their anti-Christian, anti-Conservative, anti-Donald Trump narrative was all that mattered.”

Mr Sandmann, who had been on a school trip to take part in an anti-abortion rally, said he “fought back hard to expose the media for what they did to me and I won a personal victory”.

“While much more must be done, I look forward to the day that the media returns to providing balanced, responsible and accountable news coverage,” he said.

“I know President Trump hopes for that too. And I know you’ll agree with me when we say no one in this county has been a victim of unfair media coverage more than president Donald Trump.”