TALLAHASSEE, Florida – A former adviser to President Donald Trump says her ex-husband fraudulently and inappropriately invoked her name during a disciplinary hearing before a Florida Department of Health board.
In a February 6 letter to the Florida DOH’s Board of Chiropractic Medicine, an attorney for Healy Baumgardner said his client has a “moral and ethical” obligation to notify the board that Emil Nardone lied to the board when addressing his prior misconduct.
“Due to Mr. Nardone’s previous misconduct and disciplinary actions, (Baumgardner) has repeatedly requested that Mr. Nardone not include or mention her in his work moving forward,” the letter, which was served to the board and to Nardone at his Vero Beach clinic, states. “Apparently he has failed to do so, and continues to be dishonest in his representations to licensing boards like this one.
Nardone
| File photo
“(Baumgardner) therefore has an obligation — both moral and ethical — to notify the board that Mr. Nardone lied to this board in addressing his prior misconduct, and respectfully requests this board consider revoking his Florida license.”
In the letter, attorney Jeff Aaron of Gray Robinson’s Orlando office said Nardone “inappropriately and fraudulently invoked her likeness in a disciplinary action in front of this board.”
“We take stealing our client’s identity, defamation and fraud seriously, and we are preparing litigation against all parties involved,” Aaron told The Record.
Baumgardner is the CEO of Global Impact Campaigns and advised Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign. She also previously worked on Rudy Guiliani’s 2008 presidential campaign, served in the 9/11 White House under George W. Bush and was a Fox News analyst.
In the letter to the chiropractic board regarding a 2021 hearing, Aaron says Nardone, who also is an attorney, “intentionally misrepresented to this board the facts surrounding his prior discipline.”
“Within the first two minutes of his testimony, Mr. Nardone told this board that he sought licensure in Arizona in 2014 when his “ex-wife had an opportunity to be a spokesperson for the Trump campaign,” the letter states. “In making this testimony, Mr. Nardone not only improperly invoked (Baumgardner’s) likeness by referencing her and her work, he also blatantly and intentionally misrepresented the facts to this board.
“This misrepresentation can be easily verified — as public records demonstrate that Trump did not even announce his run for presidency until at least a year later — and (Baumgardner) is happy to provide additional information to the board on this issue.”
But, Aaron says his client felt obligated to inform the board of Nardone’s “continued deceit even when discussing prior disciplinary actions and seeking licensure in front of a Florida board,” also noting that attempts to obtain licensure by fraudulent misrepresentation is grounds for denial of such license or disciplinary action.
The letter says Baumgardner wishes Nardone had not invoked her name at all.
“Unfortunately, however, he did, and he did so in a circumstance in which he was morally, professionally and ethically obligated to be forthcoming and truthful,” Aaron wrote. “But even in an instance in which he was legally required to be honest and was asking for forgiveness and understanding for prior misconduct, Mr. Nardone lied.
“And to the extent the board relied on any of his statements as the basis for which it approved his license, we hope this board revisits even the conditional approval of his license and require him to explain why he lied to each member of this board to obtain a professional license.”
Nardone told The Record he financed the creation of Baumgardner's marketing company in Wheeling and was her first client, but he said her actions resulted in his reprimand by the West Virginia Board of Chiropractic because of information he says she put on his practice's website claiming he was "#1 rated and nationally recognized."
"I told her to remove it (because) the board disfavors anyone outshining their colleagues in the state," Nardone told The Record. "She refused, and an anonymous complaint was filed against me. A member of the board called my office and ... told me to remove it and it would resolve. She (Baumgardner) was sitting right beside me and, out of arrogance, refused to talk to the board member. She also refused to give me the password to remove things."
Nardone also said he was supportive of Baumgardner wanting to move to Arizona as an election cycle was beginning. He said he dissolved his West Virginia practice.
"When I moved to Arizona, she was involved with Michelle Reagan," Nardone said. "She said this will open political doors. I attended all of these and many local Republican campaign events to support her. I even went to the Republican debate in Milwaukee to help her to open more doors.
"Trump was chosen the candidate shortly after. She traveled and spoke to the press throughout the year. In fact, I worked at rallies for Trump – one in Pensacola and one in Tampa – again to help her.
"To say I lied to the board is a stretch. It is time for her obsession over me to end and for her to move on."
Baumgardner and Nardone are a key part of a West Virginia Office of Disciplinary Counsel hearing later this month regarding Wheeling attorney Paul J. Harris.
One of the three counts against Harris alleging his violated the rules of conduct involves their divorce.
Elgine H. McArdle, who represented Baumgardner, sent to the Office of Lawyer Disciplinary Counsel in 2017 expressing concern about how Harris and his firm allegedly mishandled more than $600,000 that was to be placed into an irrevocable family trust to benefit Baumgardner and Nardone. Instead, McArdle says Harris placed the money into his IOLTA (Interest on Lawyer Trust Account) account and testified he used the funds for his “fees.”
In his response to the ODC letter notifying him of the complaint, Harris said Nardone signed off on every transaction related to fees. In his August 14 answer, Harris also says there has been longstanding animosity between him and McArdle. He also says Baumgardner, who he calls “the real party of interest” in the case, knew of the alleged conduct more than two years before the complaint was filed, thus the statute of limitations had expired.
Baumgardner didn’t get her share of the trust until 2021 when Ohio Circuit Judge Jason A. Cuomo issued an order in her favor to enforce a settlement agreement in a civil lawsuit about the division of assets related to the 2017 divorce. Cuomo also removed Harris, who was Nardone’s attorney, as a trustee of the Nardone Family Trust.
The Harris hearing is scheduled for February 20-22 at Oglebay Park’s Wilson Lodge. Both Baumgardner and Nardone are expected to be called as witnesses during the hearing.
