Trump Urges Supreme Court to Revive Lawsuit Against Clinton Over 2016 Elections - Sarmad
US President Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to revive a lawsuit that was previously dismissed, which he filed against Hillary Clinton, his Democratic rival in the 2016 presidential election. In the suit, he accuses her of conspiring with former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey and others to manipulate the results of that year’s election by linking his campaign to Russia.
The Republican president filed his petition on Friday after a federal judge dismissed the case and imposed a fine of nearly $1 million on Trump and one of his lawyers for bringing a “frivolous” lawsuit. A US Court of Appeals later upheld the dismissal and the fine.
Trump’s lawyers wrote in the petition that Supreme Court review of the case is necessary to protect the presidency.
In 2022, after leaving office following his loss in the 2020 election, Trump filed the lawsuit against Clinton, Comey, former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and several other parties, submitting a lengthy complaint to a federal court in Florida.
Steele had worked for a opposition research firm hired by a law firm on behalf of Clinton’s campaign and the DNC. He compiled a dossier alleging links between the Trump campaign and Russia, along with other allegations, all of which Trump denied.
Trump, who has a history of filing lawsuits against his opponents, claimed that in the period leading up to the 2016 election, Clinton conspired with her allies to damage his reputation through a “false narrative” alleging that he and his campaign were colluding with Russia.
Trump defeated Clinton in those elections and served as president for one term from 2017 to 2021.
Federal Judge Donald Middlebrooks dismissed Trump’s lawsuit, citing numerous deficiencies, such as Trump waiting too long to bring certain allegations. The judge described Trump’s complaint as resembling a “200-page political statement detailing his grievances against those who opposed him.”
An appeals court in Atlanta upheld the judge’s rulings in 2025.
In the petition filed on Friday, Trump’s lawyers argued that the statute of limitations for filing the lawsuit should have been extended, as the president chose to delay filing the suit during his first term in order to fulfill his constitutional duties.
