A federal court in Washington, D.C., has ruled that a defamation lawsuit against Andrew Weissmann, a prominent MSNBC legal analyst and former prosecutor, can move forward. The decision stems from allegations brought by Stefan Passantino, a former Trump White House lawyer, who claims Weissmann defamed him in a social media post concerning the January 6 investigation.
The dispute traces back to a public statement made by Weissmann, who suggested that Passantino coached Cassidy Hutchinson, a key witness in the House committee’s January 6 investigation, to lie under oath. Passantino, who briefly served as legal counsel to Hutchinson during the hearings, denies the accusations and contends that Weissmann’s claim has tarnished his professional reputation.
“Defendant Andrew Weissmann—a partisan former prosecutor and top deputy to Special Counsel Robert Mueller turned MSNBC “legal analyst”—has publicly impugned that reputation, claiming that Mr. Passantino coached his client, Cassidy Hutchinson, to lie in congressional testimony,” the lawsuit stated. “This is an insidious lie. Mr. Passantino never coached Ms. Hutchinson to lie, nor did he attempt to shape her testimony in any way.”
Hutchinson, known for her explosive testimony about the events surrounding the Capitol breach, later changed her legal representation and alleged in her memoir that