President Donald Trump and his attorneys have been ordered to pay nearly $1 million after a federal appeals court upheld sanctions in their dismissed racketeering lawsuit against Hillary Clinton and other Democrats over the 2016 election.
Eko Hot News reports that the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that Trump and his legal team engaged in “sanctionable conduct” and that many of the arguments in the $24 million lawsuit were “frivolous.” The panel confirmed the ruling by U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks of Southern Florida, who had previously imposed a $937,989.39 penalty on Trump and his then-lawyer, now Acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba, for filing claims in “bad faith.”
The lawsuit had accused Clinton and associates of conspiring to create a false narrative about Trump and Russia to “defame and delegitimise” him. Judge Middlebrooks described the case as filled with baseless claims, including a “malicious prosecution claim without a prosecution” and a “trade secret claim without a trade secret.” He concluded that the lawsuit was intended to harass political opponents and served a political purpose.
Middlebrooks also emphasised Trump’s role as a “prolific and sophisticated litigant” who was “strategically abusing the judicial process,” noting that sanctions were warranted due to his awareness of the suit’s impact and intent.
In response, a spokesman for Trump’s legal team stated that the former president “continues to fight back against all Democrat-led Witch Hunts, including the ‘Russia, Russia, Russia’ hoax,” and vowed that Trump “will continue to pursue this matter to its just and rightful conclusion.”
The decision marks a significant legal setback for Trump as he continues to face scrutiny over post-2016 election litigation strategies and other ongoing court battles related to political disputes.
