If Stefan Passantino desires to be remembered for one thing apart from his disastrous illustration of Cassidy Hutchinson, he might begin by shutting up about it.
The previous Trump ethics lawyer sued MSNBC commentator Andrew Weissman for defamation and filed a bar grievance towards former Rep. Liz Cheney for supposedly violating bar guidelines by speaking with Hutchinson when she was represented by counsel in the course of the January 6 Committee investigations. This is able to be a slam dunk if Cheney had been performing as a prosecutor or opposing counsel, and if a congressional investigation have been precise litigation. (Nope!)
Passantino additionally sued Congress for invasion of privateness and civil conspiracy, as a result of … LOL WTF? It makes a (very) little extra sense whenever you test the docket and notice that Passantino is represented by Jesse Binnall, the MAGAworld lawyer employed for pointless windmill tilts on behalf of such luminaries as former North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark “Minisoldr” Robinson, Mike Flynn, Devin Nunes, Sidney Powell, and even the present president.
The grievance was Binnall’s normal fare: indignant whinging grafted onto a weird authorized idea. He says that the Committee leaked the transcripts of Hutchinson’s testimony — given after she’d fired Passantino and changed him with Jody Hunt, the previous head of the DOJ’s Civil Division — to CNN earlier than releasing them to most people. In his telling, “The Committee intentionally leaked data to information media, instantly earlier than it could have quietly develop into public, as a way to convey consideration to non-public info and, in doing so, harm Mr. Passantino,” leading to Passantino being fired from Michael Greatest. And that may be a civil conspiracy with CNN, whom he didn’t sue for … causes.
Why he thinks the transcript would have garnered no public consideration, or why he may need an curiosity within the compelled testimony of his former consumer, is left as an train for the reader. The train for Choose Eleanor Ross of the Northern District of Georgia was to find out what to do with this dumb turkey of a case. And the reply was to yeet it into the solar.
As flagged by Jerry Lambe at Legislation & Crime, the court docket dismissed the grievance final week for failing to fulfill one of many exceptions to sovereign immunity that might have gotten across the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). As a result of, whereas styling this public hissy match as a conspiracy and invasion of privateness declare, all the things that Passantino and Binnall complained about was harm from publication. And the FTCA doesn’t countenance libelslander lawsuits towards the federal government. Womp womp.
Passantino makes an attempt to sidestep § 2680(h)’s libel/slander exception by arguing that the hurt alleged within the Criticism derives not from the Committee’s false statements about him, however from the Committee releasing his “personal data.” That personal data, based on Passantino, consists of privileged “inside discussions” with Hutchinson that the Committee purportedly leaked to the media. The issue with Passantino’s argument is that if the Committee’s defamatory statements are put aside, the Criticism fails to determine a connection between the “inside discussions” about Passantino’s “personal data” and the hurt alleged within the Criticism. And with out that connection, there isn’t a legitimate FTCA declare.
The court docket was equally flummoxed as to what potential “personal truth” might have been disclosed by quoting the precise phrases of Passantino’s former consumer.
“The Court docket is difficult pressed to see how an lawyer’s recommendation to his consumer to not misinform Congress is a ‘personal truth’ in any sense,” she wrote. “However but once more, Passantino leaves america and this Court docket guessing as to what personal data was exchanged throughout these conversations.”
And if there’s no invasion of privateness declare, the conspiracy declare falls, too — you’ll be able to hardly conspire to commit a non-crime.
Which signifies that Binnall can chalk up one other fabulous victory!
Passantino v. US [Docket via Court Listener]
Liz Dye lives in Baltimore the place she produces the Legislation and Chaos substack and podcast.
