Judge Tanya Chutkan, the jurist overseeing the landmark prosecution by special counsel Jack Smith against former President Donald
Trump for the plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election, just got assigned another Trumpworld legal case.
Politico reporter
Kyle Cheney revealed she will be hearing the
defamation suit brought by ex-Trump attorney Stefan Passantino against former Mueller investigation prosecutor Andrew Weissmann.
Passantino claims Weissmann, a frequent legal analyst who appears on CNN and MSNBC, defamed him when the commentator said the lawyer coached former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson to lie to the House January 6 Select Committee.
Hutchinson gave explosive testimony to the committee last year about former President Donald Trump's activities on the day of the attack on the U.S. Capitol, claiming that he demanded security be removed from the Capitol complex and that he wrestled with a Secret Service agent for the controls of his car after being told he couldn't go to join the demonstrators.
Then last December, new reporting
alleged that Passantino, who was advising Hutchinson while his law firm received money from Trump-affiliated groups, told her to tell the committee she didn't recall various details of the day.
Passantino, who took a leave of absence from his law firm following this reporting, maintains he did nothing wrong, saying, "I represented Ms. Hutchison honorably, ethically, and fully consistent with her sole interest as she communicated them to me. I believe she was being truthful and cooperative with the committee throughout the several interview sessions in which I represented her."