Jan 19 (Reuters) – A federal decide on Thursday ordered former U.S. President Donald Trump and his attorneys to pay greater than $937,000 in sanctions for suing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over claims the 2016 presidential election was rigged.
U.S. District Choose John Middlebrooks, who threw out Trump’s lawsuit in September, mentioned the sanctions have been warranted as a result of the previous president had exhibited a sample of misusing the courts to additional his political agenda.
“This case ought to by no means have been introduced. Its inadequacy as a authorized declare was evident from the beginning. No affordable lawyer would have filed it. Meant for a political goal, none
of the counts of the amended criticism said a cognizable authorized declare,” Middlebrooks wrote within the 45-page written ruling.
Representatives for Trump and his lead lawyer within the case, Alina Habba, couldn’t be reached for remark by Reuters on Thursday night.
Trump sued Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, claiming that she and different Democrats sought to rig that election by falsely accusing his marketing campaign of hyperlinks to Russia. read more
Middlebrooks, who was appointed to the bench by President Invoice Clinton in 1997, dismissed the case in September, calling the lawsuit “a two-hundred-page political manifesto outlining his grievances towards people who have opposed him.”
Trump, a Republican, sought re-election in 2020 however was defeated by Democrat Joe Biden, after which he repeatedly made false claims blaming widespead voting fraud for his loss.
He has launched a run for the 2024 presidential election, organising a possible rematch towards Biden.
Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Enhancing by Simon Cameron-Moore
Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
