The court found that President Donald Trump and attorney Alina Habba “give us no reason to reverse the district court’s determination that these claims are frivolous.” In this the case also amounts to little more than “abuse of judicial resources”.
A federal appeals court will hold President Donald Trump and his allies liable for nearly $1 million in fines for filing “frivolous” lawsuits against Hillary Clinton against the Democratic National Committee, and former FBI Director James Comey.
On Wednesday, Atlanta-based 11th Chief Judge William Pryor, Jr.,Th The Circuit Court of Appeals found that the president and his lawyer, Alina Haba, engaged in “conspicuous conduct” by litigating claims against Trump’s political opponents.
Trump’s lawsuit was filed in 2022, naming defendants including Clinton, Comey, the DNC, and others. It has claimed that the defendants worked together to tarnish Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, taking particular issue with allegations of foreign collusion.
In court documents, Trump argued that 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Clinton worked with her allies to “defame, misrepresent and discredit” Trump by creating false or misleading documents that showed his campaign colluded with the Russian government.
However, in 2023, U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks objected to Trump’s legal tactics, finding that the case “should never have been brought.” In his ruling, Middlebrooks ordered Trump and Hubba to pay the defendants nearly $10 million in legal fees.
“Here we are faced with a lawsuit that should never have been filed, that was both factually and legally frivolous, and that was brought in bad faith for an improper purpose,” Middlebrooks wrote in his 2023 decision.
Middlebrooks also observed that Trump cannot simply hide behind claims of poor legal counsel, saying the president has long used lawsuits as a means to intimidate and harass his rivals.
“Mr. Trump is a spirited and sophisticated litigator who has repeatedly used the courts to exact revenge on political opponents. He is the mastermind behind the strategic abuse of the judicial process and cannot be blindly treated as a litigator after the advice of a lawyer,” MiddleBooks said.
The Pryor decision affirmed Middlebrook, stating that President and Hubba give us no reason to reverse the district court’s determination that the claims are frivolous. It also said that litigation was more than a “misuse of judicial resources”.
The decision was co-signed by other members of the circuit, including Judges Andrew Brashear and Embry Kidd.
Trump’s legal team doesn’t appear unfazed by the defeat, saying the president “continues to fight against all Democrat-led witch hunts, including Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia’s fraud and unconstitutional and un-American weapons arsenal.”
Sources
Appeals court upholds $1 million fine against Trump in Hillary Clinton case
Appeals court upholds $1 million fine against Trump over ‘frivolous’ Clinton, Comey lawsuit
Appeals court panel upholds nearly $1 million in sanctions against Trump in Hillary Clinton’s lawsuit
