An anonymously written Oct. 28 WorldNetDaily article complained:
President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel withdrew his name “due to a vicious witch hunt orchestrated by far-left outlets desperate to derail President Trump’s agenda to drain the swamp.”
What they had done was claim that he had been accused of sexual harassment.
The result is a $150 million defamation lawsuit by Paul Ingrassia against Politico and a reporter, Daniel Lippman.
A report in the Gateway Pundit, for whom Ingrassia served for a time as a contributor, revealed the development.
[…]The case was brought in Virginia and confirmed by his counsel, Edward Andrew Paltzik of Taylor Dykema PLLC. It was triggered by Politico’s October 9 article by Lippman titled “Key Trump nominee accused of sexual harassment.”
Paltzik said such claims are “categorically false” and confirmed Ingrassia “has never sexually harassed anyone – full stop.”
But the Politico article in question never claimed Ingrassia sexually harassed anyone — only that he was accused of it. From the article:
In late July, Paul Ingrassia, the White House liaison for the Department of Homeland Security, arrived at a Ritz-Carlton in Orlando with a lower-ranking female colleague and others from their department. When the group reached the front desk, the woman learned she didn’t have a hotel room.
Ingrassia then informed her that she would be staying with him, according to five administration officials familiar with the episode. Eventually the woman discovered that Ingrassia had arranged ahead of time to have her hotel room canceled so she would have to stay with him, three of those officials said.
The woman, a fellow Trump appointee, initially protested the room arrangement. But, not wanting to cause more of a scene around other colleagues, she relented, according to the officials. So the two, who knew each other previously as friends, went to the room and slept in separate beds. Ingrassia’s attorney said no last-minute changes were made to the hotel reservations.
What’s not disputed is that the two ended up sharing a room on the business trip, and that it resulted in an official investigation.
[…]Ingrassia’s female colleague filed a human resources complaint against him before retracting it days later, fearing retaliation, according to three of the officials. However, five administration officials told POLITICO she complained to them that Ingrassia was making her feel uncomfortable and that it was hurting her ability to do her job.
The WND article does not indicate that either Ingrassia or his lawyer denied all of these claims. The lawyer went on to downplay another incident involving Ingrassia:
There also was an issue with Politico reporting text messages involving Ingrassia, texts that have not been confirmed.
“Looks like these texts could be manipulated or are being provided with material context omitted,” charged Paltzik. “However, arguendo, even if the texts are authentic, they clearly read as self-deprecating and satirical humor making fun of the fact that liberals outlandishly and routinely call MAGA supporters ‘Nazis.'”
Those could be “outright falsehoods, doctored, or manipulated,” the lawyer said.
Again, Politico has the full story:
Paul Ingrassia, President Donald Trump’s embattled nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel, told a group of fellow Republicans in a text chain the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday should be “tossed into the seventh circle of hell” and said he has “a Nazi streak,” according to a text chat viewed by POLITICO.
Ingrassia, who has a Senate confirmation hearing scheduled Thursday, made the remarks in a chain with a half-dozen Republican operatives and influencers, according to the chat.
“MLK Jr. was the 1960s George Floyd and his ‘holiday’ should be ended and tossed into the seventh circle of hell where it belongs,” Ingrassia wrote in January 2024, according to the chat.
“Jesus Christ,” one participant responded.
Using an Italian slur for Black people, Ingrassia wrote a month earlier in the group chat seen by POLITICO: “No moulignon holidays … From kwanza [sic] to mlk jr day to black history month to Juneteenth,” then added: “Every single one needs to be eviscerated.”
POLITICO interviewed two people in the chat and granted them anonymity after they expressed concerns about personal and professional repercussions. One retained the messages and showed the text chain in its entirety to POLITICO, which independently verified that the number listed on the chain belongs to Ingrassia. The person said he came forward because he wants “the government to be staffed with experienced people who are taken seriously.” The second person has since deleted the chain and didn’t recall specifics about it, but did confirm the discussions took place.
Note that the lawyer does not actually claim the texts were :”manipulated,” only that it was possible. Also note that WND refuse to detail the content of those texts, stating only that they involved “text messages involving Ingrassia.”
If we wrote such a biased and shoddy article, we’d try to keep our name off it too.