Judge Will Allow Trump Attorney Defamation Suit to Continue

These days, far too many members of the media are worried about being first rather than correct.

They also look for sensationalism to drive clicks and likes on their social media accounts.

That is a deadly combo in the legal world, and an MSNBC pundit may soon be paying the price for comments made about a Trump attorney.

Possibly Defamed

MSNBC legal analyst Andrew Weismann may soon have to get out his checkbook.

He has been sued by former Trump attorney Stefan Passantino for comments made regarding Cassidy Hutchinson.

Passantino had represented Hutchinson before she rolled over and became a star witness for then-Rep. Liz Cheney (R-MT) during the J6 hearings held by the House Select Committee on January 6.

In addition to representing Hutchinson during the early stages of that investigation, Passantino had also served as the head deputy ethics counsel in the Trump White House.

Weissmann, who is the former deputy for Special Counsel Robert Mueller, alleged that Passantino “coached” Hutchinson “to lie.”

The lawsuit filed against Weismann argues, “This is an insidious lie.

“Ms. Hutchinson even testified, under penalty of law: ‘I want to make this clear to you: Stefan [Passantino] never told me to lie. … He told me not to lie.”

Along with a post by Weismann on the subject, there were several pieces run in the mainstream media with the same narrative.

For instance, a December 2022 CNN piece claimed, “The final straw for former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson with her first attorney, paid through allies of former President Donald Trump, came when he told her to stop cooperating with the January 6 House select committee even if she risked a contempt of Congress charge, transcripts of her interviews and sources familiar with her testimony tell CNN.”

Things got worse for Passantino because even though Hutchinson testified that he had told her not to lie, a large group of prominent legal figures filed a bar complaint against the former White House attorney to have his law license revoked, accusing Passantino of “the crimes of subornation of perjury, obstruction of justice, witness tampering and bribery.”

Passantino can now move forward in his suit, as U.S. District Court Judge Loren AliKhan denied the motion from Weismann to dismiss the case.

Once again, I look forward to seeing the record righted, and would love to see these people held accountable for all the fake news reporting that has been done since Trump’s first term in office.