Hillary Clinton wants former President Donald Trump to pay her legal fees after a judge dismissed his racketeering lawsuit against her in September.
On Monday, attorneys for the former Democratic presidential nominee filed a petition in federal court asking the court to impose sanctions on Trump, marking the start of a lawsuit alleging that Clinton and others conspired to undermine his 2016 campaign through allegations of Russian collusion agreements, for “political stunting.”
“A reasonable attorney would never have filed this lawsuit, let alone continued to prosecute it, after several of the Defendants’ motions to dismiss pointed out its fundamental and incurable defects,” Clinton’s lawyers wrote, according to the Hill.
Clinton’s legal team is requesting $1.06 million from Trump to cover legal fees incurred by all defendants named in his civil lawsuit.
In March, the former president filed a civil lawsuit accusing Clinton, the Democratic National Committee, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, British ex-spy Christopher Steele, and others of conspiring to undermine his 2016 presidential campaign with Russian collusion allegations.
Trump claimed in court documents that rumors of collusion between his presidential campaign and Russia cost him more than $24 million.
Former President Bill Clinton appointed U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks in 1997, and he dismissed the lawsuit in September, citing “deficiencies in the plaintiff’s case.”
Trump’s legal team filed an appeal with the 11th Circuit after the suit was dismissed.
Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba, accused Clinton of filing the sanctions motion for political reasons.
“Conveniently filed a week before Election Day, this proposal is nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to score political points,” Habba Hill said.
“This motion is particularly inappropriate given that our client’s case will soon be reviewed by the Eleventh Circuit.” We will oppose this proposal and believe that the court will see through this ruse.”
