Former US President Donald Trump who suffered two legal setbacks on Thursday also ended up earning the judge’s ire as he ordered the former real estate mogul to pay almost $1 million in costs and fees to numerous defendants, including his 2016 presidential contender Hillary Clinton.
The judge, District Judge John Middlebrooks, said that the case should not have been even brought to his court as he chastised Trump and his lawyer Alina Habba.
Calling Trump a ‘sophisticated litigant’, Middlebrooks said: “He is the mastermind of strategic abuse of the judicial process, and he cannot be seen as a litigant blindly following the advice of a lawyer. He knew full well the impact of his actions.”
According to AFP, Middlebrook said Trump is a ‘sophisticated litigant who is repeatedly using the courts to seek revenge on political adversaries’.
A separate report by Hill pointed out that following the chastising by Middlebrook, Trump’s legal team withdrew a separate litigation against New York Attorney General Letitia James, which would also be presided over by Westbrook.
Middlebrook’s criticism of Trump indicated that he was unhappy that the former president uses the legal system to attack political adversaries. Trump alleged that Hillary Clinton, former FBI Director James Comey, Democrat Adam Schiff of California, former FBI figures Peter Strzok and Lisa Page and many others had colluded and spread false information regarding a possible Russian collusion.
“Thirty-one individuals and entities were needlessly harmed in order to dishonestly advance a political narrative. The 819 paragraphs of the 186-page Amended Complaint are filled with immaterial, conclusory facts not connected to any particular cause of action. They do not allege that Mr. Comey initiated an investigation of Mr. Trump, much less a prosecution,” Middlebrooks was quoted as saying by the Hill.
Middlebrooks was nominated to his current position by former US president Bill Clinton in 1997.
Read all the Latest News here
Comments
0 comment