Report: Tea Party lawsuit involves Rep. Bachmann

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) was named, along with several other high-profile conservatives, as a witness for the defense in a lawsuit against Tea Party HD, according to a report published Friday.
 
The Tennessean reports that Bachmann is included on a list of 50 anticipated witnesses for a multimillion-dollar federal lawsuit debating the demise of the Tea Party-funded television project Tea Party HD.

Tea Party HD was conceived as the "world's first HD provider of news about the Tea Party" in 2010, according to The Hollywood Reporter. A lawsuit against founder Anthony Loiacono filed in Tennessee in October alleged that the project was really "an investment scheme to defraud politically conservative-minded citizens who support the Tea Party mission."
 
Bachmann is likely included as a witness because Tea Party HD produced her “Tea Party response” to President Obama’s State of the Union last year. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed against Loiacono, which he has counter-sued, are led by Bill Hemrick, a prominent Tennessee Republican who also served as state finance chairman for Bachmann’s presidential campaign.
 
Bachmann dropped her bid for the White House last month after a disappointing finish in the Iowa caucuses.
 
Hemrick first sued for $19 million. Loiacono’s counter-suit is for $1 million, alleging defamation and abuse of process. The messy lawsuit is likely to pull in various big-name players in the conservative Tea Party movement. The list of witnesses for Loiacono’s counter-suit obtained by The Tennessean also includes commentator Ann Coulter and Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips.

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