Covington graduate Nicholas Sandmann to speak at Republican convention

Covington Catholic High School graduate Nicholas Sandmann, whose interaction with Omaha Tribe elder Nathan Phillips at the Lincoln Memorial went viral, will speak at the Republican National Convention next week.

The teenager made the announcement in a tweet on Monday night.

Sandmann announced last month that he had reached a settlement in his defamation lawsuit against The Washington Post over its coverage of his interaction with Phillips last year. Details of the settlement in the $250 million lawsuit were not made public by Sandmann’s attorneys or the Post.  

Sandmann’s lawsuit alleged the newspaper’s coverage mischaracterized Sandmann’s encounter with Phillips, who had participated in the Indigenous Peoples March in Washington, D.C., and tarnished his reputation. Sandmann was in town with classmates from his Kentucky high school for the annual March For Life event.

Sandmann settled a similar $275 million lawsuit against CNN earlier this year.

In the viral video, Sandmann is seen wearing a “Make America Great Again” cap during the encounter and, without full context, appears to taunt Phillips, who is in his 60s. More extensive footage of the incident later emerged, showing that a group of Black Hebrew Israelites appeared to instigate the confrontation, prompting the lawsuit months later.

Also slated to appear at the Republican convention, which is going virtual due to the coronavirus pandemic, are Mark and Patricia McCloskey. The married St. Louis couple went viral in June after pointing guns at Black Lives Matter protesters after a gate was breached outside their home. Charges against the couple were filed but have since been dropped.