A US federal judge fined former President Donald Trump and his lawyer nearly $1 million on Thursday for a “frivolous” lawsuit alleging Hillary Clinton tried to rig the 2016 election.
Judge John Middlebrooks noted that Trump, who intends to return to the presidency in 2024, displayed a “continued pattern of misuse of the courts” and brought the lawsuit “to dishonestly advance a political narrative.”
The lawsuit, which Middlebrooks dismissed last year, claimed that Clinton, the loser in the 2016 election to Trump, and others created a false account that the former Republican president’s campaign had colluded with Russia.
Trump asked for $70 million in damages.
But the lawsuit “should never have been filed,” the judge said in the 45-page ruling.
“Its deficiency as a legal claim was evident from the start. No reasonable attorney would have brought it up,” the judge added in the decision.
The ruling also sanctions Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba.
Both must pay the value of the sanctions imposed by Middlebrooks to cover the legal costs of the accused: $937,989.39.
The judge wrote that Trump is “a prolific and sophisticated litigator who repeatedly uses the courts to seek revenge against his political adversaries.”
“He is the mastermind of the strategic abuse of the judicial process and cannot be seen as a litigator blindly following the advice of a lawyer. He knew full well the impact of his actions,” Middlebrooks added.
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