An Obama-appointed federal judge generated headlines this week after he tossed a lawsuit brought against Donald Trump Jr., Rudy Giuliani, and two former Trump White House staffers, Breitbart reported.
The lawsuit against the men was filed by Trump impeachment witness Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman (Ret.).
Vindman and his lawyers claimed that he was subjected to “witness intimidation” by the aforementioned members of President Trump’s inner circle during his first impeachment trial.
The lawsuit was filed in February 2022.
The ruling
U.S. District Court James Boasberg of the District of Columbia issued a 29-page ruling in his decision to nix the case.
BOOM! In other news, our firm’s clients @DonaldJTrumpJr & @DanScavino just got Alex Vindman’s bogus lawsuit dismissed. Court said their criticisms were harsh, but not a civil rights conspiracy. Congrats to our clients and thanks to my awesome Dhillon Law colleagues on the win! pic.twitter.com/T7iXy35mr0
— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) November 8, 2022
The judge said Vindman’s complaint failed to prove that the defendants had conspired against him in any way.
“Plaintiff’s pled facts, taken as true, certainly suggest that Defendants leveled harsh, meanspirited, and at times misleading attacks against him,” Boasberg wrote. “But political hackery alone does not violate [the law at issue].”
Vindman’s lawyers argued that that their client became “a dangerous campaign of witness intimidation by President Trump and a group of conspirators.”
Background
Vindman’s involvement in the impeachment case stemmed from his position as the director for European affairs at the National Security Council (NSC) during the time President Trump had made a phone call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
His concerns over the phone call were shared by him with the NSC’s lead counsel — a move that would ultimately land him a congressional subpoena.
Trump was ultimately acquitted in his first and second impeachment trials.