Trump-appointed judge resigns after allegations of sexual misconduct

A federal judge in Alaska resigned Monday after an investigation found that he had an inappropriate relationship with a law clerk and lied about it, as well as creating a hostile work environment that included making sexually explicit comments to female colleagues.

The Judicial Council of the 9th Circuit has asked U.S. District Judge Joshua M. Kindred, nominated by former President Donald Trump, to voluntarily resign. He is accused of misconduct. It is said that she had an “inappropriately sexualized relationship” with a law clerk, which briefly continued during her time as an assistant U.S. attorney in Alaska.

The allegations, described in a 30-page court order in May and released Monday, were first outlined in a lengthy report by a special commission that Chief District Judge Mary H. Murguia convened early last year to investigate Kindred’s conduct after allegations were made in 2022.

“We conclude that Judge Kindred’s misconduct was pervasive and abusive, had the character of sexual harassment, and fostered a hostile work environment that negatively impacted several employees personally and professionally,” the council wrote.

Kindred submitted his resignation letter to President Joe Biden last week, saying he would resign on Monday. The court order referred to an October 2022 incident in which Kindred allegedly kissed a former law clerk and grabbed her buttocks after asking her to go out for a drink with him shortly after she finished her clerkship and began working in the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The order mentions a second incident in which Kindred was accused of “putting his hands on me” and having oral sex with the law clerk after pressuring her to visit him at a colleague’s apartment.

The order includes interviews with Kindred’s clerks and judicial staff, as well as hundreds of pages of text messages detailing his inappropriate behavior, including discussions about his love life, the clerks’ boyfriends and love lives, and derogatory comments about his colleagues.

It also said that Kindred “had no qualms about using language that is inappropriate in a professional setting, such as promoting the evaluation of people based on ‘ability,’ saying he was not ‘slut-ignorant,’ or telling stories about him ‘giving out fuck jobs in a hot tub.’ In the few cases where employees came to Judge Kindred to discuss his inappropriate behavior, they were belittled or ostracized, and in one case an employee left his job.”

The investigation report states that Kindred made false statements and “obstructed, influenced and obstructed” the proceedings related to the meetings with the trainee lawyer.

In a nine-page written response to the investigation, Kindred said he had failed to set appropriate boundaries and crossed lines that I should not have crossed, and that his relationship with the law clerk “did not arise from anything sinister.”

Kindred could not be reached for comment Monday evening. A court official referred NBC News to the 30-page court order.

Murguia said in a statement that the investigation focuses on “promoting a civil and respectful workplace free of discrimination and harassment and preserving the integrity of the judiciary.”

“The procedure is designed to ensure an effective and expeditious conduct of court business. This was a serious and delicate matter in every respect,” said Murguia.

The Senate confirmed Kindred in 2020 in a vote of 54-41 that was largely along party lines. No Republicans voted against his nomination.

Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said on Channel X on Monday night that it was “more than appropriate” for Kindred to resign.

“Based on the order and certification of the Judicial Council of the Ninth Circuit, it is more than appropriate that Mr. Kindred has submitted his resignation. Judges must meet the highest standards and Mr. Kindred has fallen far short of them,” she wrote. “I will work quickly to submit a replacement candidate for consideration.”