The defamation lawsuit accused 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her allies of undermining Trump in an orchestrated plan to spread false information that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia.Middlebrooks in dismissing the lawsuit in September, wrote that “plaintiffs’ claims are clearly structurally flawed.”
Two of Trump’s lawyers, Alina Hubba and Peter Tiktin, have said they intend to appeal.
“We tried to right our wrongs, but our reward is a kick in the teeth,” Tiktin said in an email. It will be decided by a panel of officials, as we believe the dismissal and subsequent sanctions will ultimately be reversed.”
Other attorneys, Michael T. Madaio and Jamie Allan Sasson, did not immediately respond to email messages from The Post.
The fine is the latest legal setback for Trump.Federal officials are investigating him for taking classified government documents after leaving the White House, and Manhattan officials are scrutinizing the financial records of his sprawling real estate business. A federal judge in a lawsuit said Trump signed legal documents he knew contained voter fraud numbers.
The fine comes as the Republican and conservative media openly blame Trump for the Republican party’s underperformance in Tuesday’s midterm elections.
In the lawsuit, Trump’s lawyers incorrectly described Dolan in court documents as a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, a senior Clinton campaign official, and a Clinton aide and adviser. The Trump lawsuit also accused Dolan, a public relations executive, of assisting in the production of false information “docs” intended to defame Trump.
In response, Dolan’s attorney was not involved in the creation of the dossier, never chaired the DNC, and his role in the campaign was, as Middlebrooks wrote, “knocking on doors as a volunteer.” was limited to that.”
Clinton, through a spokesperson, denied even knowing him, Middlebrooks wrote.
Trump’s attorneys later amended the complaint, but did not materially change the allegations about Dolan, the judge wrote. The amended complaint cites Dolan as the former chairman of the “National Democratic Party Political Organization” and a “senior executive in the Clinton campaign,” writes Middlebrooks. Criticism of the amended complaint was “ignored,” the judge wrote.
Middlebrooks cited Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in imposing fines on Trump’s attorneys, urging judges to discourage “lawyers and litigants from stuffing federal courts with frivolous papers.” said it was intended.
Middlebrooks will not allow a party to file a petition “based on reasonable facts,” or “based on a legal theory with no reasonable likelihood of success,” or file a petition “in bad faith.” If you do, it says that penalties based on that rule are necessary. ”
“All three are true here,” writes Middlebrooks. He later said, “The petition in this case contained factual allegations that were either willfully false or made in reckless disregard for the truth.
As an example, Middlebrooks highlighted details provided by Trump’s attorney who said Dolan was a Florida resident. He pointed out that he was not campaigning in the election.
Trump’s attorney, oddly enough, said Dolan was a New York resident and said, “Charles Dolan is an incredibly common name, and conventional search methods for plaintiffs’ attorneys have resulted in people having that name all over the country.” We have identified countless individuals, many of whom live in New York.” New York. “
