Make Donald Trump pay $1M-plus in sanctions over lawsuit, Hillary Clinton, other Democrats ask judge

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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Hillary Clinton and other Democrats are seeking more than $1 million in sanctions against former President Donald Trump for filing a racketeering lawsuit against them that a federal judge blasted as a “200-page political manifesto” that lacked any legal foundation.

In a 32-page motion filed Monday in U.S. District Court in West Palm Beach, attorneys for Clinton said Trump should be forced to pay the legal expenses she and others incurred after he accused them of conspiring to spur the investigation into whether he colluded with Russia.

Quoting U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrook’s blistering September decision to dismiss the suit, Clinton’s attorneys said Trump pursued the legal action, knowing it was riddled with factual misrepresentations and flawed legal theories.

Previously: Judge throws out Donald Trump racketeering suit vs. Hillary Clinton ... and rips it to shreds

Jan. 6: Committee calls on Trump to testify. Former president scoffs at idea.

This week: 5 takeaways from a day when Trump, DeSantis, Rubio and Scott descended on South Florida

Court asked to force Trump to pay legal bills off 'frivolous claims'

Instead of just sanctioning Trump’s attorneys, they asked Middlebrooks to take the unusual step of forcing Trump to pay the legal bills of Clinton, her 2016 campaign chairman John Podesta and more than a dozen other people and organizations he sued.

“Under its inherent authority, the court may order (Trump) to pay defendants’ costs and fees associated with the defense of the entire action, which would not have been incurred absent (his) bad-faith pursuit of these frivolous claims,” wrote attorney David Markus and David Kendall.

Still, they said, no “reasonable attorney” would have filed the lawsuit that claimed the former secretary of state and first lady conspired with others to accuse Trump of colluding with Russia.

“At its core, the problem with (the lawsuit) is that (Trump) is not attempting to seek redress for any legal harm; instead, he is seeking to flaunt a two-hundred-page political manifesto outlining his grievances against those that have opposed him, and this Court is not the appropriate forum,” they wrote, quoting Middlebrook’s ruling. 

Trump’s legal team included Deerfield Beach attorney Peter Ticktin, who went to military school with Trump and considers him a friend. He wasn’t immediately available for comment.

Trump appeals judge's 'scathing' dismissal of Russia collusion lawsuit

Court records show that Trump has appealed Middlebrooks’ decision to the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeal was filed by attorney Jared Roberts, a 2021 law school graduate who is licensed in Virginia and Florida.

In an email after Middlebrooks dismissed the lawsuit, the 76-year-old Ticktin said he was disappointed by the ruling.

“We are confident that this is going to be reversed on appeal,” he wrote.

In the 185-page lawsuit, Trump claimed that Clinton and others pushed for the investigation into whether he colluded with Russia during his successful 2016 presidential campaign. Despite their interference, he claimed Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller “exonerated” him.

However, Middlebrooks pointed out, Mueller didn’t clear Trump of wrongdoing. 

“While it is true that the report states that it does not affirmatively conclude (Trump) committed a crime, it also ‘does not exonerate him,’ ” Middlebrooks wrote.

Mueller instead found there was insufficient evidence of a criminal conspiracy to charge Trump. In his report, he said he did not reach a conclusion about possible obstruction of justice because Justice Department rules prohibit federal indictments of sitting presidents.

In his suit, Trump also claimed the investigation destroyed a plethora of business opportunities and got him banned from Twitter, a social media site he used regularly during his administration to attack enemies and share his views with the public.

But, Markus and Kendall said, while the suit makes blanket claims of lost business opportunities that were “too many to list,” legal rules require the losses to be detailed. Further, his claim that he was banned from Twitter as a result of the Russian investigation is false.

Trump was permanently banned from the social media platform after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Twitter executives said they took the action after reviewing Trumps posts and concluding that allowing him to continue to post tweets posed a “risk of further incitement of violence.”

While Middlebrooks ruling was detailed and damning, ultimately he dismissed Trump’s lawsuit because it was filed too late.

The events Trump complained about date to the 2016 election. There is a four-year statute of limitations on filing such lawsuits.

While exceptions can be made if new allegations are uncovered, Middlebrooks cited a series of Trump’s 2017 tweets as evidence that he long harbored the view that he had been the victim of a conspiracy.

“Instead they look at phony Trump/Russia … 'collusion,' which doesn’t Exist,” Trump tweeted in January 2017. “The Dems are using this terrible (and bad for our country) Witch Hunt for evil politics … There is so much GUILT by Democrats/Clinton, and now the facts are pouring out.”

When he dismissed the lawsuit, Middlebrooks said he would consider sanctions against Trump and his attorneys.

Virginia executive sues President Trump separately to recover legal fees

Charles Halliday Dolan Jr., a Virginia public relations executive who served as vice chairman of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy under President Bill Clinton and was advisor to Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign, is separately seeking $16,274 in sanctions.

He filed the motion under a legal rule that allows lawyers to be punished financially for filing a lawsuit that isn't “well-grounded in fact.”

Dolan claims he was “dragged into this lawsuit via speculation, rumor and innuendo.” Further, the claims are patently false, wrote his attorney George R.A. Doumar.

Like Middlebrooks and Clinton’s lawyers, Doumar said that Trump filed the lawsuit to settle political scores. 

Doumar scoffed at Trump's claims that he filed the lawsuit to recover the expense of “dealing with legal issues and political issues.”

“Dealing with political issues is part and parcel of running for president and being president in the United States,” Doumar wrote. “(Trump) does not get to sue for the rigors of a job he campaigned for.”

Jane Musgrave covers federal and civil courts and occasionally ventures into criminal trials in state court. Contact her at jmusgrave@pbpost.com.