US District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks, who was appointed by Bill Clinton, has dismissed a lawsuit against Hillary Clinton launched by former President Donald Trump and fined him for alleging that Clinton spread spread false information that his campaign had colluded with Russia.
Former president Donald Trump and his lawyer, Alina Habba, have been fined almost $1 million by the Clinton appointed lawyer for what was ruled a “frivolous” lawsuit brought against his 2016 presidential rival Hillary Clinton and her campaign.
Trump is a “prolific and sophisticated litigant who is repeatedly using the courts to seek revenge on political adversaries,” wrote U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks in an unusually personal and bitter 46-page judgment published late Thursday.
“He is the mastermind of strategic abuse of the judicial process, and he cannot be seen as a litigant blindly following the advice of a lawyer. He knew full well the impact of his actions,” said Middlebrooks. “As such, I find that sanctions should be imposed upon Mr. Trump and his lead counsel, Ms. Habba.”
The suit was filed in March 2022, with Trump alleging that Clinton and others had orchestrated “a malicious conspiracy” to spread false information that his campaign had colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential race that he won.
It was dismissed in September by the Clinton judge, who said there were “substantive defects” in the case and grievances for which a court was “not the appropriate forum.”
“Here, we are confronted with a lawsuit that should never have been filed, which was completely frivolous, both factually and legally, and which was brought in bad faith for an improper purpose,” Judge Middlebrooks wrote, criticizing what he described as “abusive litigation tactics.”