Trump to appeal after South Florida judge dismisses lawsuit alleging Clinton conspiracy
A federal judge has dismissed former President Donald Trump’s sprawling lawsuit against Hillary Clinton, other Democrats and Justice Department officials over their role in the investigation into his ties to Russia, criticizing the suit as illogical, confusing and ultimately without merit.
Judge Donald Middlebrooks said Trump provided no basis for his claims that Clinton and other named parties in the suit had taken part in a racketeering conspiracy, and failed to identify any harm to his property interests. Middlebrooks also said that Trump claimed the parties attempted a “malicious prosecution” against him when no judicial proceeding had taken place.
“Most of Plaintiff’s claims are not only unsupported by any legal authority but plainly foreclosed by binding precedent as set forth by the Supreme Court and the Eleventh Circuit,” Middlebrooks ruled on Thursday. “I find that amendment would be futile and that this case should be dismissed with prejudice as to the Defendants that have raised merits arguments.”
Trump had previously tried to get Middlebrooks removed from the case due to his appointment in 1996 by former President Bill Clinton, a Democrat. Middlebrooks rejected that effort, noting that he received unanimous support from the Senate in his confirmation hearing.
Peter Ticktin, an attorney for Trump on the case, told McClatchy that their team would be appealing the case.
“I can say that obviously we’re disappointed, and this will next go to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals,” Ticktin said.
The suit claimed that a diverse set of parties colluded to initiate a meritless FBI investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia after the 2016 presidential election. The alleged scheme amounted to a racketeering conspiracy, Trump’s team argued, entitling the former president to millions of dollars in damages.
Defendants named in the case moved to have it dismissed, calling the suit “a series of disconnected political disputes that [Trump] has alchemized into a sweeping conspiracy among the many individuals [he] believes to have aggrieved him.”
This story was originally published September 9, 2022 at 1:50 PM.
