On Monday (October 31), Hillary Clinton requested a federal court order former President Donald Trump to pay her legal fees for a lawsuit he filed against her claiming she conspired to undermine his 2016 campaign with Russian collusion accusations.
Monday’s filing comes after Trump’s suit was dismissed in September by a federal trial court.
In the filing, Clinton’s attorney claim the former President’s lawsuit was a “political stunt,” claiming it met the threshold that enabled the court to impose sanctions.
The filing states a “reasonable attorney” wouldn’t have pursued Trump’s case after “multiple Defendants” — Trump claimed others had conspired alongside Clinton — filed motions to dismiss, which pointed to the case’s “fundamental and incurable defects.”
Federal law permits judges to order excess costs, expenses, and attorney fees incurred because of an attorney’s decision to “unreasonably and vexatiously” multiply court proceedings to be paid by the offending attorney, which will likely be billed to their client.
In March, Trump filed a civil suit claiming several figures within the Democratic party conspired to tarnish his 2016 Presidential campaign with accusations his campaign had colluded with Russia. He named Clinton, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, the Democratic National Committee, and more than a dozen others as defendants in the suit.
Sullivan is part of the suit because of the role he played as Clinton’s chief foreign policy advisor during her 2016 campaign.
In September, a federal judge appointed by former President Bill Clinton tossed out Trump’s sprawling civil suit, calling it a “political manifesto.”
The ruling prompted Trump’s legal team to appeal to the 11th Circuit.
