“Whatever the utility of Plaintiff’s Complaint as a fundraising tool, a press release, or a list of political grievances, it has no merit as a lawsuit, and should be dismissed with prejudice,” Clinton’s attorneys wrote.
The court filing marks Clinton’s first response to Trump’s lawsuit, which claims that more than two dozen federal employees and political figures worked together to “vilify” him. The suit, and Clinton’s response, underscores the pair’s enduring contempt for each other years after they squared off in the 2016 general election.
Clinton’s team specifically argued that she should not be a defendant in the federal court in South Florida because too many years have passed to allow for a lawsuit centered on events from 2016. “By the Complaint’s own telling, these alleged events occurred long ago, and Plaintiff has been aware of his purported injuries for years,” the filing says.
Her attorneys also claim that Trump’s accusations have no “cognizable legal causes of action” and thus don’t belong in court.
The suit specifically alleges that Clinton and other top Democrats hired lawyers and researchers to fabricate information tying Trump to Russia, and then peddled those lies to the media and to the US government in hopes of hobbling his chances of winning in 2016. Trump claims they were assisted by “Clinton loyalists” at the FBI who abused their powers to investigate him out of political animus.
The Clinton campaign did pay researchers to dig up dirt about Trump and Russia, and well-connected Democrats took some of their findings to law enforcement, believing possible ties between Trump and Russia were worth investigating.
Clinton’s team on Wednesday also asked the district judge, Donald Middlebrooks, to bar Trump from reviving a similar case against her at a later date.
More News
Doug Burgum’s primary run was short-lived. Now he’s everywhere with Trump.
Blue Origin to fly again as space tourism struggles to get off the ground
Analysis | Ukraine gamble pays off: Republicans face little backlash in primaries