Ex-Trump Lawyer Passantino Sues Weissmann, Alleging Defamation – Bloomberg Law
By Sam Skolnik
Trump White House lawyer Stefan Passantino has sued former special counsel prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, claiming Weissmann lied about whether Passantino improperly coached a witness in the Jan. 6 committee probe.
Passantino said in a defamation suit filed Friday in US District Court in Washington that Weissmann publicly impugned his reputation when he claimed that Passantino coached his client, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, to lie in congressional testimony.
“This is an insidious lie,” Passantino said in the complaint. “Mr. Passantino never coached Ms. Hutchinson to lie, nor did he attempt to shape her testimony in any way.”
In April, Passantino sued the House Jan. 6 committee on similar grounds. Both complaints revolve around Passantino’s claims that committee members, and now Weissmann, spread falsehoods by stating that he coached star witness Hutchinson to lie to the panel.
Hutchinson told the House committee that Passantino advised her to claim she did not recall the details of an episode in which former President Donald Trump was said to have lashed out at members of his security detail in an SUV on the day of the Jan. 6 riot.
Law firm Michael Best & Friedrich parted ways with Passantino shortly after the testimony became public. A group called Lawyers Defending Democracy earlier this year filed a complaint with the Washington bar seeking the removal of Passantino’s law license over his work for Hutchinson.
Passantino’s suit claims Weissmann defamed him because of “partisan animus” and also committed “injurious falsehood” against him. He’s asking that a jury award him an undetermined amount of more than $75,000.
Passantino termed a Sept. 15 statement from Weissmann on X, formerly known as Twitter, as a smear that “has deeply damaged Mr. Passantino’s 30-year reputation and had caused him to lose significant business and income.”
Weissmann didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
The case is Passantino v. Weissmann, D.D.C., 1:23-cv-02780, 9/22/23.
To contact the reporter on this story:
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
AI-powered legal analytics, workflow tools and premium legal & business news.
Log in to keep reading or access research tools.