Lawsuit says podcaster made videos while embedded with Noem and Bovino
Kyle Frankovich and Maureen Foody filed a defamation lawsuit Friday against podcaster and online influencer Benny Johnson, alleging he falsely portrayed them as “left-wing terrorists” who had assaulted federal officers outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview, Illinois.
Frankovich is a data scientist who works for Harvard University and Foody is a court reporter, according to the complaint. Both were released without charges after being detained at the protest in October 2025.
Frankovich had never heard of Johnson before the pro-Trump media figure posted video of him and a row of other protesters detained outside the ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois, the lawsuit says. In one video, Johnson said: “These individuals assaulted ICE officers as they were trying to clear out the area behind us over here.”
Johnson knew that statement was false when he made it, the complaint alleges. Frankovich was observing and recording video of the ICE agents from a designated “free speech” area when he was thrown to the ground and arrested, the lawsuit says. Images of Frankovich with his hands zip-tied behind him, with his distinctive tattoos visible, were later used in recruiting material by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Both plaintiffs say in the complaint that they have lived with fears of violent attacks and professional consequences since Johnson’s videos. “[Frankovich] and his partner do not take walks alone anymore. He has made his social media private and uses a Google service to flag whenever his address is made available online,” the lawsuit reads.
Johnson, who has millions of social media followers, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. His footage was aired on Fox News. He made the videos while embedded with then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and then Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino, according to the complaint.
Federal government officials are generally immune from defamation suits, according to Rachel Goodman, a special counsel with the legal non-profit Protect Democracy who has worked on similar cases but is not involved in the Johnson lawsuit. Goodman said the claims against Johnson highlight a pattern the Trump administration has used to “control the information environment.”
“It’s clear that the administration’s goal is to delegitimize all political opposition, and particularly to delegitimize the really mass movement of the general public that disapproves of the administration’s actions and has demonstrated that in a variety of ways,” Goodman said.
In addition to undermining nonpartisan journalism and media, Goodman said, “the other part of that strategy is its propaganda strategy … working very closely with influencers who are politically aligned and sort of administration allies to actually bring them in to create content.”