Tony Bobulinski Threatens to Sue Rep. Dan Goldman

Tony Bobulinski (L), on Oct. 22, 2020. Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) on Jan. 27, 2023. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Tony Bobulinski, a former Biden family business associate and witness in an ongoing Republican-led impeachment investigation, is threatening to sue Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) for defamation.

On March 26, attorney Jesse Binnall sent a letter to Mr. Goldman demanding the retraction of a March 21 post on the X social media platform in which the congressman stated, “Tony Bobulinski has used a Trump campaign-paid lawyer to make false allegations since October 2020.”

Mr. Binnall insisted the allegations made in that tweet were defamatory and should be taken down.

“Mr. Bobulinski has not told any lies about his firsthand knowledge of the Biden family. Your statement, as though it were a matter of fact, that Mr. Bobulinski has lied to federal investigators, as well as Congress, is defamatory per se and will not be tolerated,” Mr. Binnall’s letter reads.

“Further, President Trump’s campaign has never paid Mr. Bobulinski’s legal fees. In fact, Mr. Bobulinski has paid over $500,000, in legal fees to numerous lawyers in law firms out of his own pocket since 2020.”

Mr. Binnall called on the congressman to delete the March 21 X post and publicly retract the statement within five days of receiving the demand letter. He stated that if the congressman doesn’t, “we will file suit against you.”

Mr. Bobulinski has been represented by attorneys who have had associations with President Trump, the Trump campaign, and the Trump Organization.

Stefan Passantino, an attorney who worked in President Trump’s Office of White House Counsel and was hired by the Trump Organization, has represented Mr. Bobulinski on legal matters. Mr. Binnall has represented President Trump and his 2016 campaign in past legal matters.

Mr. Binnall asserts that the Trump campaign has not paid for Mr. Bobulinski’s legal representation.

NTD News reached out to Mr. Goldman for comment but did not receive a response by press time.

While the “speech and debate clause” of Article I, Section 6, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution, has been interpreted as protecting lawmakers from liability for statements they make in the course of their legislative work, Mr. Binnall’s letter argues that Mr. Goldman’s March 21 X post wouldn’t be protected because it was made outside the scope of his legislative work.

Sparred at House Hearing

Mr. Goldman shared the March 21 X post a day after Mr. Bobulinski testified before the House Oversight Committee about his business dealings with President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden.

Mr. Bobulinski insisted that President Biden has enabled his family’s lucrative business dealings throughout his political career  and has adopted “a complex scheme to maintain plausible deniability” about such activities.

Mr. Goldman’s March 21 X post included a video segment of an exchange he had during the hearing in which he questioned Mr. Bobulinski about allegations made by former Trump White House aid Cassidy Hutchinson.

She said that Mr. Bobulinski had worn a mask while meeting with then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows during a 2020 Trump re-election rally in Rome, Georgia.

The two men repeatedly interrupted and shouted over one another during the House hearing as they argued about Ms. Hutchinson’s allegations.

Mr. Bobulinski recently filed a defamation lawsuit against Ms. Hutchinson, alleging she had falsely claimed that Mr. Meadows had exchanged a small envelope or folded-up note with Mr. Bobulinski during their 2020 rally encounter and cast “an innocuous interaction” between the two men as an illicit, immoral, or even illegal encounter.

During their exchange at the March 20 hearing, Mr. Goldman presented a photo of multiple individuals taken at nighttime, with captions purporting to identify Mr. Bobulinski and Mr. Meadows.

The congressman asked Mr. Bobulinski to confirm whether the photo showed him and Mr. Meadows meeting but Mr. Bobulinski did not clearly identify the individuals, noting that one of the photographed individuals was only showing “the back of his head.”

Mr. Goldman challenged Mr. Bobulinski’s assertions that Ms. Hutchinson had lied about him. As the exchange ended, Mr. Bobulinski insisted, “Cassidy Hutchinson is a liar because she said that he handed me an envelope; Mr Meadows didn’t give me a single thing.”