Donald Trump has not had much luck in the courts these days, and that bad luck continued in a case that he brought against Christopher Steele's company.
The judge presiding over Trump's lawsuit regarding the Steele dossier has decided to dismiss the case.
Talking Points…
- Trump's lawsuit
- Judge's ruling
- Analysis
Trump had filed the suit in an effort to dispel the claims that were made in the Steele dossier, but the suit went much further than that. The dossier was partly funded by the DNC and the Hillary Clinton campaign after a Republican donor decided not to pursue the dossier. The dossier was also at the heart of the Russian collusion allegations and FISA warrants that were used against Trump and his staffers.
When the dossier came out, it was loaded with salacious and disgusting allegations against Trump, all of which he denied. Among the worst accusations were Trump being involved with Russian prostitutes. Even though the allegations levied in the dossier were unproven, the media ran with them, and they dominated headlines for months.
The case was filed against Orbis Business Intelligence, a company co-founded by Christopher Steele, the former British spy who created a dossier in 2016.
On Thursday, a London judge tossed out the case, which Trump claimed made "shocking and scandalous claims" that harmed his reputation. Judge Karen Steyn ruled:
"There are no compelling reasons to allow the claim to proceed to trial."
The Trump campaign responded:
"The High Court in London has found that there was not even an attempt by Christopher Steele, or his group, to justify or try to prove, which they absolutely cannot, their false and defamatory allegations in the fake 'dossier.'
"The High Court also found that there was processing, utilization, of those false statements. President Trump will continue to fight for the truth and against falsehoods such as ones promulgated by Steele and his cohorts."
This is yet another big blow to Donald Trump in the courts and one that just racked up more legal bills without any payoff for Trump. It now appears that both here and over the pond, Trump is not drawing any sympathetic judges to his cases.
Unfortunately, even though we know the majority of the dossier has been debunked, this is only going to give the Democrats more ammunition to use against Trump in the campaign. This is exactly the opposite of what Trump hopes to achieve with this lawsuit.
I said this months ago, but Trump clearly did not get the message. He needs to forget the idea of suing anyone and everyone who has ever wronged him because the litigious angle is simply not working for him any longer. The deck is stacked against him, unfair or fair, so he needs to concentrate on beating the federal lawsuits he faces and winning this election. Everything else should be put on the back burner for the time being.
