In dismissing Trump’s lawsuit Thursday night, Judge Donald Middlebrooks of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida said the lawsuit does not seek “redress for any legal harm” and that the court “is not the proper forum ” for the former president. complaints. “He is attempting to display a two-hundred-page political manifesto outlining his grievances against those who have opposed him,” Middlebrooks said in his ruling. Trump in March sued Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, and several other Democrats alleging “extortion,” “conspiracy to commit injurious falsehood” and other allegations in a 108-page lawsuit that echoed the long list of the complaints he had repeatedly aired during his four years in the White House after Clinton’s victory. It had sought compensatory and punitive damages, saying it had incurred more than $24 million in “defense, legal and related expenses.” In his ruling, Middlebrooks said Trump waited too long to file his complaint beyond the statute of limitations on his claims and that he failed to argue that he was harmed by falsehoods, noting that many of his statements the defendants “were clearly protected by the First Amendment’ to the US Constitution. Reps for Clinton and Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the decision. Other defendants included Democratic Representative Adam Schiff, who led one of the House impeachments against Trump, and Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence officer who wrote a dossier released to the FBI and the media before the 2016 elections. US intelligence officials and others in the US government have accused Russia of meddling in that election. Moscow has denied meddling in the campaign. (Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Paul Simao)
