Perhaps Donald Trump should not have used the American judiciary to prove himself right. The former US president sued Hillary Clinton for attempted fraud in the 2016 presidential election, but a US federal judge ruled the lawsuit “futile” and on Thursday fined Donald Trump and his attorney nearly $1 million. Judge John Middlebrooks ruled that the Republican billionaire, who hopes to return to the White House in 2024, committed an “abuse of the courts” by filing a lawsuit “to dishonestly advance a political narrative.”
The request, which Judge Middlebrooks denied last year, alleged that Hillary Clinton and others tried to convince the public that Donald Trump’s campaign was colluding with Russia. The former president is seeking $70 million in damages from his former rival, whom he eventually beat in the November 2016 presidential election: “His inadequacy as a legal remedy was evident from the start. No sane lawyer would have filed it. Intended for a political purpose, none of the complaint’s arguments constitute an admissible legal claim,” the judge wrote again.
Donald Trump and his attorney, Alina Habba, were ordered to pay $937,989.39 to cover opposing party legal fees. Judge Middlebrooks wrote that the former president was a “prolific and resourceful litigator who repeatedly uses the courts to exact revenge on his political opponents.” “He is the architect of a strategic diversion of the court process, and he cannot be considered a litigant who would blindly follow a lawyer’s advice. He knew full well the implications of his actions,” he added.