Trump: Marshall was ‘mandated by law’ to request payments from patients

President Trump defended Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) after a report revealed that he sued hundreds of patients for unpaid medical bills, claiming the senator was legally obligated to pursue the debts or risk facing criminal charges himself.

In a lengthy Truth Social post on Monday, Trump praised the former obstetrician-gynecologist and accused his Democratic challenger, Adam Hamilton, of using the controversy against him ahead of November’s election.

“Roger is one of my favorite Senators — He is absolutely GREAT, a wonderful person, given a ‘bum rap’ because he was mandated by Law to request money owed from patients,” Trump wrote. “If he didn’t make these requests, he would be breaking the Law, and subject to criminal liability and arrest.”

There is no federal or state law requiring doctors to sue patients over unpaid medical bills, nor is there such a law requiring debt collectors to request arrest warrants from judges for defendants who do not show up to court.

A September investigation by The New York Times revealed that Marshall’s medical practice sued more than 700 patients over outstanding bills during his decades-long career as a physician, including some debts as low as $101.

Patients were arrested in 81 of those cases after missing court appearances, according to the records reviewed by the Times. Marshall’s attorneys sought arrest warrants in 13 cases, though it was unclear whether those patients were taken into custody.

Trump also defended Marshall over the arrests, arguing that judges, rather than the senator, were responsible for enforcing court orders.

“A judge ordering a patient’s arrest for not showing up to court many, many times is not Roger Marshall’s fault — IT IS THE LAW,” he wrote.

Kansas law allows judges to issue arrest warrants when defendants fail to appear in court, but attorneys are not required to request them. The Times found that Marshall’s lawyers repeatedly sought warrants against patients who missed court dates.

Steve Johnson, an attorney for Marshall who regularly represented the senator in debt cases, said in a statement to the Times that the warrants were necessary to ensure the debtors were present in court.

“If defendants were allowed to appear only when they wanted to without any consequences the court would get no business done,” he said.

Johnson also told the outlet that Marshall was not personally involved in decisions to seek arrest warrants or garnish patients’ wages. He did, however, say Marshall established an 18 percent annual interest rate on outstanding medical bills.