NEW YORK (AP) — A Florida judge on Thursday ordered former President Donald Trump and one of his lawyers to pay nearly $1 million for filing what he called a bogus lawsuit against his rival in the presidential race. of 2016, Hillary Clinton, among others.
In a forceful brief, U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks accused Trump of a “pattern of abuse of the courts” for filing frivolous politically motivated lawsuits, which he said “undermines the rule of law” and “tantamount to to obstruction of justice”.
“Here we are faced with a lawsuit that should never have been filed, that was completely frivolous, both factually and legally, and that was filed in bad faith for an improper purpose,” the magistrate wrote in his ruling.
Citing recent legal actions by Trump against the Pulitzer Prize board, New York Attorney General Letitia James, big tech companies and CNN television, he described the former president as “a prolific and sophisticated litigator” who uses the courts “for revenge.” of his political opponents.
“He is a master of the strategic abuse of the judicial process,” the judge added.
The ruling obliges Trump and his attorney, Alina Habba, to pay nearly $938,000 to the defendants in that proceeding.
A spokesperson for Trump and Habba did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday night.
In September, Middlebrooks dismissed Trump’s lawsuit against Clinton, former top FBI and Democratic Party officials, rejecting the former president’s claims that they and others conspired to sink his presidential campaign by citing ties to Russia.
The complaint named Clinton and some of his top advisers as defendants, as well as former FBI Director James Comey and other agency officials involved in the investigation into whether the Republican’s 2016 presidential campaign had coordinated with Russia to influence the result of the elections.
The judge then explained that the complaint contained “glaring structural deficiencies” and that many of the “factual descriptions are implausible.”
