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Ventura Sues 'American Sniper' Author For Libel

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Jesse Ventura is suing an author over the way he portrays a bar fight he claims he had with the former Minnesota governor.

In a lawsuit moved into federal court this week, Ventura claims author Chris Kyle defamed him to gain notoriety for his book, "American Sniper, the Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History."

The book was published last month. In it, Kyle describes a 2006 bar fight in which he punched someone named "Scruff Face." In media interviews publicizing the book, he said Scruff Face is Ventura.

Ventura, a former Navy SEAL and host of "Conspiracy Theory" on truTV, claims the fight never happened and Kyle knows his story is false.

In documents filed Friday, Kyle's attorney, John Borger, says his client denies the allegations.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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