(ThePatriotWire)- Failed 2016 presidential nominee Hillary Clinton wants former President Donald Trump to pay her legal fees for a lawsuit he filed against her.
In a recent plea to a federal court, the Democrat Clinton says that she wants Trump to be ordered to pay the legal fees she incurred as a results of a lawsuit he brought against her. In that suit, Trump alleged that Clinton, along with others, created the Russian collusion accusations in an attempt to undermine his 2016 presidential campaign against her.
Clinton filed this motion in federal court on Monday, with her lawyers saying Trump did it as a “political stunt.” Clinton’s lawyers further argued that Trump’s suit met standard thresholds for a federal court to impose these sanctions on him.
Back in September, a federal trial court dismissed Trump’s suit, though the former president has appealed that decision.
In this week’s motion, Clinton’s lawyers wrote:
“A reasonable attorney would never have filed this suit, let alone continued to prosecute it after multiple Defendants’ motions to dismiss highlighted its fundamental and incurable defects.”
The civil lawsuit was filed by Trump back in March, and it was quite broad in its scope. It alleged that Clinton, along with more than a dozen people, orchestrated a “malicious conspiracy” to undermine his prospects at winning the presidency in 2016. They did so, Trump alleged, by accusing his presidential campaign of collusion with Russia.
Trump’s suit also named as defendants the Democratic National Committee and Jake Sullivan, the current White House national security adviser. At the time, he served as the chief foreign policy adviser for Clinton’s campaign.
Ever since the suit was filed, Clinton’s attorneys have argued that Trump’s suit was politically motivated. The judge who dismissed the case in September was actually appointed by Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton.
When he tossed the suit, the judge said it was a “political manifesto.”
Media outlet The Hill reported recently that federal law allows judges to require attorneys who “unreasonably and vexatiously” multiply court proceedings to pay any expenses, attorneys’ fees and excess costs that were “reasonably incurred” because of that attorneys’ actions.
In their motion filed this week, Clinton’s attorneys wrote:
“Plaintiff’s suit was unwarranted on the facts, unsupported by the law and imposed substantial burdens both on Defendants and this Court. Despite being alerted to the many deficiencies in the initial Complaint by one round of motions to dismiss, Plaintiff and his counsel pressed forward on an Amended Complaint that fixed none of the problems.”
Alina Habba, who’s serving as Trump’s attorney in the case, denied all of the allegations that were made in the court filing. In fact, in a statement, Habba said that Clinton herself only filed this motion because of political reasons.
She wrote:
“This motion, conveniently filed one week prior to election day, is nothing more than a thinly-veiled attempt to score political points. This motion is particularly inappropriate, given that our client’s case will soon be reviewed by the Eleventh Circuit.
“We will oppose this motion and trust that the Court will see through this ruse.”
