A judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit that accused former US president Donald Trump’s oldest son and other Trump allies of an intimidation and defamation campaign targeting a retired army lieutenant colonel who served as a key witness in the former president’s first impeachment case.
Alexander Vindman testified during 2019 impeachment proceedings about a telephone call in which Trump pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate then-Democratic rival Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. Trump was impeached by the US House of Representatives, but acquitted by the US Senate in February 2020.
Vindman sued earlier this year in Washington’s federal court, accusing Donald Trump Jr and others of participating in an “intentional, concerted campaign of unlawful intimidation and retaliation” over his decision to testify.
Photo: AFP
In his ruling on Tuesday, US District Judge James Boasberg acknowledged that the “defendants leveled harsh, meanspirited and at times misleading attacks” against Vindman.
However, he said, “political hackery alone does not violate” the law and allow for a successful lawsuit.
The suit alleged that after Vindman was summoned by House lawmakers to testify, the defendants and others coordinated and advanced “false narratives” about him, including that he was a spy for Ukraine and had spoken pejoratively about the US to foreign officials; leaked classified information about him; falsely accused him of lying under oath; and worked to derail his expected promotion to colonel.
However, Boasberg said the defendants’ actions “suggest only that defendants were looking for ways to undermine his credibility — not the further conclusion that defendants had the specific aim to intimidate him out of testifying or performing functions of his job, or to unlawfully injure him by defaming him or otherwise.”
Vindman announced in July 2020 that he was retiring from the army after more than 21 years.
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