Trump-Appointed Federal Judge Resigns In Sex Scandal

July 9, 2024 News, Politics

Alaska Public Media reports:

Joshua Kindred, who resigned as a U.S. District Court judge for Alaska last week, had an “inappropriately sexualized relationship” with one of his law clerks, engaged in “unwanted” sexual conduct and then lied about it to the chief judge, according to the Judicial Council of the Ninth Circuit.

The findings are summarized in a 30-page order, signed by nine federal judges. It is rife with details describing sexual harassment, vulgar remarks and texts about his sexual desires and experiences. It also describes Kindred’s attempts to mislead and deny when confronted with complaints.

“We conclude that Judge Kindred committed misconduct by creating a hostile work environment for his law clerks. That hostile work environment included ‘unwanted, offensive, and abusive sexual conduct, including sexual harassment,’” the order reads.

The Washington Post reports:

The report accuses Kindred, who was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska in 2019 by President Donald Trump, of discussing his divorce, dating life, sex life and romantic preferences as well as his law clerks’ boyfriends and dating lives, among other topics.

Kindred encouraged his law clerks to rate people based on their sexual desirability, the report said, and belittled or ostracized clerks who tried to talk to him about his inappropriate behavior.

Kindred was confirmed by the Senate in 2020, in a 54-41 vote that fell mostly along party lines. Sens. Joe Manchin III (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.), who at the time still identified as Democrats but have since become independents, joined Republicans to help push Kindred’s confirmation through.

Reuters reports:



Kindred, 46, did not respond to requests for comment. He told the council his “great sin here was the fact that during this period of time I treated my law clerks as friends rather than employees,” according to the nine-member panel’s 30-page order.

An investigative committee found that Kindred had an “unusually close relationship” with one of the clerks, and that a week after she began a job in a prosecutor’s office, Kindred asked her out for drinks, kissed her and grabbed her buttocks.

Days later, the clerk said the judge invited her to an apartment he was staying in, asked her to lie down on a bed with him and performed oral sex on her, the committee found. The Judicial Council said that Kindred later lied to the investigative committee by denying having a sexual encounter with clerk.

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