Don Blankenship

Don Blankenship was born into a poor house, dined at the White House, and spent time in the big house. Blankenship grew up in Central Appalachia, worked as a teenage coal miner, and became CEO of Massey Energy Company, a then publicly traded Fortune 600 company. Blankenship was sent to CI Taft, a low-security federal prison, for a misdemeanor following an explosion at a Massey Energy coal mine in which twenty-nine miners died. Blankenship was the only misdemeanant at CI Taft where he served ten...See more

Don Blankenship was born into a poor house, dined at the White House, and spent time in the big house. Blankenship grew up in Central Appalachia, worked as a teenage coal miner, and became CEO of Massey Energy Company, a then publicly traded Fortune 600 company. Blankenship was sent to CI Taft, a low-security federal prison, for a misdemeanor following an explosion at a Massey Energy coal mine in which twenty-nine miners died. Blankenship was the only misdemeanant at CI Taft where he served ten months with 2400 felons. US Magistrate Judge Omar J. Aboulhosn recommended that Blankenship's conviction be thrown out because the prosecution withheld favorable evidence that could have exonerated Blankenship. Even so, nefarious US District Judge Irene Berger upheld the wrongful conviction and is now denying Blankenship a certificate of appeal. Blankenship ran for a seat in the US Senate in 2018 and was leading in the polls before Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and President Donald Trump helped to defeat Blankenship's campaign. More than one hundred national media outlets falsely broadcast that Blankenship was a felon as the election approached. Blankenship is currently prosecuting a defamation lawsuit against many of these same national media outlets. The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) and the Democratic Party recognize Blankenship as the person most responsible for their loss of prominence in West Virginia. See less