U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks on Thursday dismissed the former president’s case with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled, against most of the myriad defendants named in the lawsuit. Trump sued former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee and numerous former FBI, Justice Department and Democratic Party officials under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act in March 2022. He sought millions of dollars in damages for having ” maliciously conspired to spin a false narrative that their Republican opponent, Donald J. Trump, was conspiring with a hostile foreign power.” In the 65-page opinion and order issued late Thursday, Judge Middlebrooks begins by saying that Mr. Trump’s complaint is “difficult to summarize in a concise and coherent way” because it “certainly wasn’t presented that way.” The judge goes on to say that Mr. Trump’s characterizations of the facts alleged in his lawsuit “are implausible because they lack specific allegations that could provide factual support for the conclusions drawn.” “What the Amended Complaint lacks in substance and legal support it seeks to make up for in longwinded, hyperbole and a settlement of accounts and grievances,” he wrote, adding that it didn’t appear that many of the references to other material were sprinkled throughout the ex-court documents. of the president had been “presented in good faith and with evidentiary support”. Continuing, Judge Middlebrooks added that Mr. Trump’s claims were “not only unsupported by any legal authority,” but also “clearly barred by binding precedent as set forth by the Supreme Court and the Eleventh Circuit.” Perhaps most damningly, the judge points out that Mr. Trump wrote “intricately” that the defendants obstructed the investigation into Crossfire Hurricane by “helping to start Crossfire Hurricane.” “That the defendants could obstruct a process by moving it defies logic,” wrote Judge Middlebrooks of the FBI’s investigation into Russia’s election meddling.
