Wednesday, September 20, 2023

The Biggest Loser

[U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks in Florida] handed down a scathing rebuke of Donald Trump and one of his attorneys on Friday, accusing the former president of attempting to use the courts to "seek revenge on political adversaries."

[...]

[Middlebrooks] in January ordered Trump and his attorney Alina Habba to pay nearly $1 million in damages to defendants for what he described as a "frivolous" lawsuit. In March 2022, Trump attempted to sue 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, some of her key advisers and top FBI officials for $70 million in damages—saying they had conspired against him with allegations that he was compromised by Russia.

Despite the significant financial sanctions, Habba refiled the lawsuit in August after the May release of the report from the Department of Justice's (DOJ) special counsel John Durham.

[...]

In his Friday decision, Middlebrooks reiterated his previous views that the entire legal endeavor was frivolous. He wrote that the Durham report did not provide any new support for Trump's claims in the lawsuit.

"Even if the Durham Report uncovered the sort of vast conspiracy alleged by Plaintiff (it plainly did not), it would not change the many legal conclusions I made in the Order dismissing Plaintiff's lawsuit. And whatever the Durham Report can be said to have uncovered, for purposes of this case, it does not change my findings that Movants acted in bad faith in bringing this lawsuit and that this case exemplifies Mr. Trump's history of abusing the judicial process.

[...]

"I struggle to even imagine anything that the Durham Report could say to warrant a change in any of those conclusions—the sum of which foreclosed Plaintiff's claims and led to sanctions," Middlebrooks added.

In conclusion, the judge called Trump "a prolific and sophisticated litigant who is repeatedly using the courts to seek revenge on political adversaries," adding that the "case is straight out of that playbook."

  Newsweek

6'3", 215 pounds. LOL

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

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