Judge Eviscerates Trump’s Bogus Lawsuit Against Hillary Clinton

Donald Trump in March filed a lawsuit against Hillary Clinton and a host of his other perceived enemies for trying to “destroy his life” by falsely accusing him of collusion ahead of the 2016 election. The lawsuit was ridiculous, and on Friday morning, a federal judge ruled it as such, tossing it out while suggesting the former president’s lawyers could even be sanctioned for wasting the court’s time with so many unfounded claims.

District Court Judge Donald Middlebrooks wrote in a nearly 200-page ruling that the complaint — which accuses Clinton, James Comey, Christopher Steele, Peter Strokz, the Democratic National Committee, and others of perpetrating a racketeering conspiracy to besmirch Trump — is “neither short nor plain,” and that it “certainly does not establish Plaintiff is entitled to any relief.”

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Middlebrooks expounded on why the suit was so ridiculous. “Many of the Amended Complaint’s characterizations of events are implausible because they lack any specific allegations which might provide factual support for the conclusions reached,” he wrote. “For instance, the contention that former FBI director James Comey, senior FBI officials, and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein ‘overzealously targeted’ Plaintiff and conspired to harm him through the appointment of special counsel are strikingly similar to the conclusory and formulaic allegations found deficient in the seminal Supreme Court case of Ashcroft v. Iqbal.”

Middlebrooks added that in filing such a claim, attorneys are required to certify that it is not being presented “for any improper purpose” and that he has “serious doubts” whether Trump’s legal team abided by the standard. Brad Heath, a justice reporter for Reuters, noted on Twitter that the federal requirement authorizes sanctions for those who violate it.

The ruling is a blow for Trump and his legal team, which are now trying to fend off a Justice Department investigation into why the former president hoarded hundreds of pages of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate. Trump successfully petitioned for a “special master” to review the seized documents. The Justice Department appealed the decision on Wednesday.

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