The revised complaint makes it "abundantly clear that Murtha was, in fact, acting outside the scope of his employment when he slandered Justin Sharratt" and, therefore, can be held liable for his comments, Geary told The Associated Press.
The new complaint also accuses Murtha of making the comments for "purely personal reasons," namely, to curry favor with U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who would be selected Speaker of the House a few months later.
Among other things, Geary claims Murtha had no official business commenting on an ongoing Pentagon investigation. "It is wholly foreign to employment as a member of the legislative branch to make conclusory statements of fact about an ongoing criminal investigation conducted by the executive branch," Geary said.
Geary noted that Murtha claimed his Haditha information came from Pentagon higher-ups, who denied that.
Geary nails it when he says it was an investigation being conducted by the executive branch and Murtha is in the legislative branch, and that investigation wasn’t completed until long after Murtha shot his mouth off.