Trump-appointed federal judge forced to resign over sexual misconduct

U.S. District Judge Joshua M. Kindred, who was appointed by Donald Trump in 2019, was forced to resign this month after internal investigations confirmed that he created a hostile work environment and engaged in an inappropriate sexual relationship with a law clerk, according to a judicial conduct report released Monday.

The Judicial Council of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit released the report, which details how the Alaska judge badgered his law clerks with uncomfortable discussions regarding his dating and sex life, his divorce, and romantic preferences, often pestering them for details about their boyfriends and dating lives.

It also details two separate sexual encounters in October 2022 between Kindred and one of his former law clerks, who is now an assistant U.S. attorney. The judge and law clerk exchanged about 300 pages of text messages over 11 months, The Washington Post reported.

According to the report, Kindred would constantly message the clerk. When she was on medical leave, he would text her saying that he missed her and "it feels like I haven’t seen you in months,” asking about the clerk's boyfriend and telling her that “work is so much better when you are here.” When he was on a work trip, he texted her that he missed her enough that he was worried about her leaving, Raw Story reported.

Perhaps the straw that broke the camel’s back is what else the clerk told investigators Kindred did to her. When driving her home one night, he stopped at the courthouse, brought her into his chambers, kissed her, and groped her from behind. Further, during a pizza party she threw for him to celebrate his move, he persuaded her to join him in a bedroom where he proceeded to pull her pants off and perform oral sex on her.

The committee found that Kindred’s accounts of these events didn’t line up with the clerks.

"The false statements that Judge Kindred has made throughout these proceedings, along with the severity of Judge Kindred’s misconduct, may constitute one or more grounds for impeachment,” the report read.

Judge Kindred also made derogatory comments about public and political figures, as well as rated people based on their "f---ability" in the presence of his staff, Raw Story reported.