Drop false-claims lawsuit, Bakker asks

O’FALLON, Mo. — Missouri-based TV pastor Jim Bakker is asking a judge to dismiss a state lawsuit accusing him of falsely claiming that a health supplement could cure the coronavirus, and the lawyer representing Bakker is former Gov. Jay Nixon.

Republican Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt sued Bakker and Morningside Church Productions Inc. in early March. Schmitt sought an injunction ordering Bakker to stop selling Silver Solution as a treatment for the coronavirus on his streaming TV program, The Jim Bakker Show. The lawsuit said Bakker and a guest made the cure claim during a program on Feb. 12.

In a court filing Monday, Nixon — a Democrat who served two terms as governor before leaving office in 2017 — called the lawsuit an assault on Bakker’s religious freedom.

Schmitt wasn’t alone in going after Bakker. Also in March, U.S. regulators warned Bakker’s company and six others to stop selling items using what the government called false claims that they could treat the coronavirus or keep people from catching it.

Nixon said Bakker immediately complied with orders to stop offering Silver Solution on his show and ministry website.