Judge tosses Vindman’s suit against Trump allies – By Josh Gershen & Kyle Cheney (Politico) / Nov 8, 2022
“Political hackery” insufficient to sustain legal case against Donald Trump Jr. and others, Obama-appointed judge rules.
Alexander Vindman, the former National Security Council aide who helped trigger the first impeachment of former President Donald Trump, suffered a legal setback Tuesday as a federal judge tossed out a lawsuit in which Vindman accused several top Trump allies of conspiring to violate his civil rights.
U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg said Vindman’s allegations that he was smeared by the former president’s son Donald Trump Jr., adviser and attorney Rudy Giuliani, former Deputy White House Communications Director Julia Hahn and former deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino did not give Vindman a legal basis to sue the foursome under the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871.
“Political hackery alone does not violate” that statute, wrote Boasberg, an appointee of former President Barack Obama.
Vindman raised early alarms about Trump’s July 2019 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in which Trump appeared to tie future U.S. aid to Ukraine’s willingness to launch and announce an investigation that would be damaging to Joe Biden, whom Trump correctly viewed as a likely rival for the presidency in 2020.
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