A federal appeals court has upheld almost $1 million in penalties against President Donald Trump and members of his legal team, ruling that a lawsuit he brought against Hillary Clinton and several Democrats over the 2016 election relied on “frivolous” and sanctionable legal arguments.
According to NBC News, the decision, issued Wednesday by a three-judge panel on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, affirmed both the dismissal of Trump’s $24 million racketeering lawsuit and U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks’ earlier order requiring Trump and his then-attorney — and current acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey — Alina Habba to pay $937,989.39 in sanctions.
The underlying lawsuit had accused Clinton and others of working together to “weave a false narrative” tying Trump to Russia in the lead-up to the 2016 election, purportedly with the intent to “discredit, delegitimize and defame” him.
Middlebrooks found the complaint to be riddled with legal deficiencies, including what he called a “malicious prosecution claim without a prosecution” and a “trade secret claim without a trade secret.”
In his order, he wrote, “This case should never have been brought. Its inadequacy as a legal claim was evident from the start. No reasonable lawyer would have filed it.”
The judge also said the lawsuit appeared designed “to harass” political rivals and was deployed “for a political purpose.”
In a sharply worded assessment, Middlebrooks argued that Trump bore full responsibility for the misuse of the courts.
“Mr. Trump is a prolific and sophisticated litigant who is repeatedly using the courts to seek revenge on political adversaries,” he wrote. “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.”
The appeals court agreed that Middlebrooks acted within his discretion in imposing sanctions on both Trump and Habba.
In response to the ruling, a spokesman for Trump’s legal team criticized the decision and argued that the effort to challenge the origins of the Russia investigation would continue, saying the team “continues to fight back against all Democrat-led Witch Hunts, including the ‘Russia, Russia, Russia’ hoax.”
“President Trump will continue to pursue this matter to its just and rightful conclusion,” the spokesman said.
