Trump statement today: Judge fines Trump $1 million over ‘frivolous’ Hillary Clinton lawsuit

A Florida federal judge on Thursday fined former President Donald Trump and his legal team nearly $1 million for filing a “frivolous” lawsuit against Hillary Clinton and others.

Trump, in the lawsuit filed against former Democratic presidential candidate Clinton and others, alleged that they tried to rig the 2016 election by falsely accusing his campaign of ties to Russia.

“This case should never have been brought,” Judge Donald M Middlebrooks of the Southern District of Florida wrote in his order. “Its unsuitability as a legal claim was evident from the outset.”

Donald Trump’s demand to arrest a reporter who broke the story of a leaked Supreme Court draft was denounced as “terrible” by a leading press freedom campaigner.

The high court said an eight-month investigation to try to identify who leaked the draft annulment decision roe x wade could not find the source of the leak. The leaked draft and its chilling implications for the country were published in May by Politico.

On Thursday, Trump doubled down on his suggestion and said reporters should be jailed until they reveal the source, whom he called “sludge”.

A federal judge has denied Trump adviser Peter Navarro’s attempt to dismiss the contempt of Congress case against him.

In doing so, U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta said Navarro had failed to prove that former President Donald Trump wanted him to assert executive privilege over his possible testimony — an important allegation that Navarro has long vindicated. his decision to skip January 6th. selection committee summons

Judge Mehta also eliminated most of the defenses Navarro plans to offer.

Former President Donald Trump has reacted to the Supreme Court’s announcement that a month-long investigation has failed to uncover who leaked a draft of last year’s ruling overturning roe x wade for political suggesting that the journalists who published the draft be jailed until they give up a name.

A months-long investigation by the Supreme Court marshal failed to determine who leaked a draft version of the court’s decision overturning roe x wade for political last year, the court said on Thursday.

In a note, the court said that the leak of the draft opinion of minister Samuel Alito in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization it was “one of the worst breaches of trust in its history” and “a serious attack on the judicial process,” but the person who provided the draft to a pair of reporters for the Washington, D.C.-based publication has yet to be identified, despite reports. marshal’s best efforts.

Andre Feinberg has the story.

President Joe Biden is likely to officially declare himself a candidate for re-election after delivering his second State of the Union address in February, according to sources familiar with his plans.

On Thursday, CBS News reported that Biden intends to announce his candidacy in the 2024 election, but is holding off until his Feb. 7 speech to a joint session of Congress, citing his desire to be seen as a working president rather than a a candidate when he makes his observations.

“That has always, always been our plan. State of the Union first, candidate later,” said a source who spoke to CBS News.

Andre Feinberg has the story.

Far-right House Republicans, early opponents of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and even new Representative George Santos are in line for coveted committee assignments. Some are expected to serve on the high-level oversight committee investigating President Joe Biden’s administration.

Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona will serve on committees now that Republicans have displaced majority Democrats. When the Democrats were in charge, both legislators were kicked out of their offices for being too radical.

Santos, who has acknowledged lying to New York voters about his past, won two committee appointments.

When Hillary Clinton was running for president, her campaign wanted a nicer way to talk about the criminal investigation on her private email server, so they called it a “security review.”

Now, President Joe Biden’s team is using similar language when talking about the discovery of classified documents in his home and former office in Delaware. Karine Jean-Pierre, White House press secretary, tends to describe the situation as a “review” or a “legal process,” using the term “investigation” much less frequently.

The judge in his 46-page order said Donald Trump’s lawsuit against Hillary Clinton and other defendants, which include dozens of former Justice Department and FBI officials, was “frivolous” and an abuse of the legal system.

“Here, we are confronted with a lawsuit that should never have been filed, that was completely frivolous, both factually and legally, and that was filed in bad faith for an improper purpose,” wrote U.S. District Court Judge Donald Middlebrooks , on your request.

“Mr Trump is a prolific and sophisticated litigator who repeatedly uses the courts to exact revenge on political opponents.

“He is the mastermind of the strategic abuse of the judicial process and cannot be seen as a litigator who blindly follows the advice of an attorney.”

Former President Donald Trump’s lead attorney in the case, Alina Habba, and another attorney were asked to pay $50,000 in fines to the court and $16,274 in attorney fees to one of the defendants.

The lawsuit against Hillary Clinton and other defendants was dismissed by the judge, who called the case a “two hundred page political manifesto”.

“The allegations in this case contained factual allegations that were knowingly false or made in reckless disregard for the truth,” Judge Donald Middlebrook wrote in his order.