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Judge tosses MAGA lawyer's suit — and says testimony shows he coached his client to lie

rawstory.com · 4h · first reportShare

A federal judge has thrown out former Trump White House lawyer Stefan Passantino's defamation lawsuit against MSNOW commentator Andrew Weissmann, ruling that the very transcript Passantino cited in his own defense actually backs up the claim he was suing over. Passantino sued Weissmann in 2023 after the former federal prosecutor tweeted that Passantino had "coached" a witness to lie before Congress, an apparent reference to Passantino's representation of Cassidy Hutchinson during her early depositions before the January 6 Select Committee. Passantino argued the tweet destroyed a three-decade legal career, pointing to Hutchinson's own testimony that he'd "never told me to lie" and had specifically told her not to. U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan wasn't persuaded. Reviewing the full deposition transcript, she found Passantino had repeatedly urged Hutchinson to answer "I don't recall" even when she indicated she actually did remember details, advice Hutchinson said left her feeling she