WHEELING – A former adviser to President Donald Trump is being accused of illegally intercepting text messages from her ex-husband and sharing them with her attorney.
Healy Baumgardner, a native of the northern Panhandle, and Charleston attorney Mike Kelly are named as defendants in a lawsuit filed by Emil Richard Nardone II filed his complaint in Ohio Circuit Court. Baumgardner and Nardone were married for approximately six years until she filed for divorce in 2016.
According to the complaint, Nardone and Baumgardner’s divorce has been “tumultuous.”
Court records support that description, showing four separate lawsuits having been filed since the actual divorce proceeding was filed in Ohio County in 2016. One of those filings says Baumgardner actually filed for divorce first in Arizona in early 2016 before dismissing it and refiling in Marshall County, which then was transferred to Ohio County.
Nardone claims Baumgardner produced a document in divorce proceedings showing that she had illegally intercepted electronic communications between Nardone and his attorney.
“The document was a picture of a screen of an iPad showing confidential text messages between plaintiff and his attorney,” the complaint states. “In fact, defendant Baumgardner was illegally intercepting all of plaintiff’s electronic communications by accessing his text messages through an iPad in her possession. …
“Kelly knew of defendant Baumgardner’s illegal conduct and ‘used’ the illegal intercepted information.”
Both Baumgardner and Kelly, a former Kanawha Couty Family Court judge, told The West Virginia Record they have not been served papers in the case and declined further comment.
Nardone is a chiropractor who recently graduated from the Charleston School of Law in South Carolina and is licensed to practice law in Alabama. He also recently started Chirodefense, which was created to support chiropractors who are falsely accused of healthcare and insurance fraud.
He says the actions of Baumgardner and Kelly were intentional, malicious and designed to injure and harm him.
“Defendants’ conduct transcends all bounds of decency in a civilized society such that defendants have committed a tort of outrage,” the complaint states.
Nardone seeks compensatory and punitive damages as well as attorney fees and court costs. He is being represented by Fairmont attorney S. Sean Murphy, who filed a lawsuit in 2013 against another attorney who attacked him at the Marion County Courthouse. Murphy was indicted by a grand jury for malicious assault related to that incident.
Baumgardner advised Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign, and she previously worked on Rudy Guiliani’s 2008 presidential campaign. She has served as a senior communications adviser and spokeswoman for the White House, the Department of Energy, heads of state and other public figures. She is a frequent television guest contributor providing analysis on politics, international issues and energy issues.
Last month, Baumgardner tested positive for COVID-19 after attending Trump’s 2020 Election Day party at the White House as a guest of Guiliani.
Ohio Circuit Court case number 20-C-212