Trump Unloads Brutal Truth As He Revives Clinton Lawsuit Now
You expect a lawsuit to start right after the bad act happens. You expect the clock to start ticking the moment the damage is done. That is how it works for everyone else. But on Friday, Donald Trump filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari asking the Supreme Court to revive his lawsuit against Hillary Clinton and others.
The twist? He waited. He waited until he was out of the White House to sue. Trump asserts his legal action aimed to legitimately hold political rivals accountable for their 2016 presidential campaign behavior.. He argues his duties as president forced him to pause. Now he wants the highest court to fix the timeline.
This isn't just about words. It is about a heavy price tag. A federal judge in Florida tossed the case back in 2022. Nearly $1 million in sanctions were ordered by that judge for Trump's team to pay. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals backed that ruling last year.
Trump's attorneys say the courts went too far. They claim the judges punished Trump and his lawyer, Alina Habba, just for trying to bring the case. Attorneys for Trump claim lower courts not only rejected his claims but also improperly penalized him and his lawyers for pursuing them..
Why wait so long? The filing gives a specific reason. According to reports, Friday's filing argues that the deadline should have been extended. According to reports, he postponed filing suit during his first term to fulfill his constitutional duties as president.
The lawsuit reads, "Faced with this conspiracy during his term, President Trump concluded that any private civil lawsuit would consume substantial time and energy and that any civil suit should therefore be postponed until after his term," according to the Washington Examiner. He needed to lead, not litigate. That is the core of his defense.
Trump's filing states, "The court's intervention is necessary to protect the presidency, and to prevent judicial disagreement from becoming a license to punish its advocates," per RedState. This is a big ask. It asks the Supreme Court to say that a president cannot be sued while in office, even if he waits to sue later.
The lower courts were not kind to this argument. They called the claims frivolous. Judge Andrew Brasher, a Trump appointee, was part of the unanimous panel. Yet, they still dismissed the case. Chief Judge William Pryor wrote the opinion for the group.
He wrote, "Because Trump's remaining claims are untimely and otherwise meritless, we affirm the dismissal of the amended complaint with prejudice for the other defendants," according to RedState. The court also noted that Trump's lawyers made mistakes. The panel stated that since Trump and his attorneys engaged in sanctionable conduct and waived procedural objections, both sanctions orders are affirmed.
Now the ball is in the Supreme Court's court. Trump is asking them to review these adverse rulings. He believes the lower courts made a mistake on the timing. He believes the punishment was unfair. In March 2022, this case started when Trump filed suit against Clinton, former FBI Director James Comey, the Democratic National Committee, and others. He alleged a conspiracy to damage his candidacy by fabricating claims about Russia.
The Supreme Court must decide if a president can pause the clock. If they say yes, it changes how the law treats the office. If they say no, the $1 million penalty stands.