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Trump APPEALS to the judge to fine him $1 million over a ‘revenge’ lawsuit against Hillary Clinton alleging she colluded with Democrats to misrepresent the Russiagate story ahead of the 2016 election
- Donald Trump and his lawyer Alina Habba were ordered to pay nearly a million dollars
- Last month, US District Judge John Middlebrooks called Trump the “mastermind of the strategic abuse of the judicial process” in a scathing 46-page opinion.
- The appeal was filed in the conservative-leaning Eleventh Circuit Court.
Donald Trump on Monday appealed a judge’s order that would have fined him nearly $1 million for filing a “completely frivolous” lawsuit against former 2016 rival Hillary Clinton.
Both the former president and his lawyer, Alina Habba, received a heavy fine last month.
Trump sued Clinton and other top Democrats in March last year, accusing them of “maliciously conspiring” to rig the 2016 election with claims that he was working with Russia to get elected.
Federal Judge John Middlebrooks, who was appointed by Clinton’s husband, criticized the legal effort, and Trump himself, in a 46-page opinion explaining the hefty fines.
‘Mister. Trump is a prolific and sophisticated litigator who repeatedly uses the courts to exact revenge on his political opponents,” Middlebrooks wrote.
Donald Trump and his lawyer Alina Habba are appealing a January 19 ruling that would have required them to pay nearly $1 million in legal fees and other costs.
A judge who ordered Trump and Habba to pay the fines said Hillary Clinton and her allies were “necessarily harmed to dishonestly promote a political narrative” with the lawsuit.
He called the former president a “mastermind of the strategic abuse of the judicial process.”
‘This case should never have been filed. Its inadequacy as a legal claim was evident from the beginning,’ the opinion opened.
No reasonable lawyer would have brought it up. Intended for a political purpose, none of the charges in the Amended Complaint established a cognizable legal claim.’
He said Clinton and her allies were “needlessly harmed to dishonestly promote a political narrative.”
The order that Trump appealed Monday imposes a penalty of $937,989.39 to cover all legal fees and other costs of the defendants.
Middlebrooks dismissed the lawsuit in September.
Trump is appealing it to the 12-seat Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Georgia: He named six of his jurists
But Trump’s countermotion challenging the fines now heads to the Atlanta, Georgia-based Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.
Trump’s nominees dominate that panel, taking six of the 11 seats currently held.
Only four of its current jurists have been Democratic appointees, giving it a clear conservative lean.
However, a three-judge panel of that court recently dealt a blow to another of Trump’s legal efforts when it rejected his bid to delay the Justice Department’s review of classified documents seized in an FBI raid on Mar-a- Lake.
The ruling struck down a judge’s earlier order appointing a special master to review the documents before they could reach Justice Department investigators.
That decision was made late last year by two Trump appointees and George W. Bush’s chief justice appointee.