Former President Donald Trump faced a legal setback in London on Thursday, February 1. Then, London’s High Court shot down his lawsuit against Orbis Business Intelligence. In the lawsuit, which was about data protection, the former president’s legal team was attempting to hold the company behind the Steele Dossier accountable.
As background, the Steele Dossier was the foundation of much of the Trump-Russia mania that surrounded the 2016 election. It was put together by former British spy Christopher Steele, who was paid for his efforts by the DNC. It ended up being used by the FBI in its Trump-Russia investigation. Orbis Business Intelligence was co-founded by Mr. Steele.
In the lawsuit, PBS reports, former President Trump alleged that Mr. Steele made, in the infamous dossier, “shocking and scandalous claims” about him and that those claims were both false and harmful to his reputation. He thus attempted to hold Steele and his company, Orbis Business Intelligence, accountable under Britain’s data protection laws.
Particularly, former President Trump’s attorney, Hugh Tomlinson, argued that the former president “suffered personal and reputational damage and distress” due to Steele’s claims. In the suit, Tomlinson argued that the dossier “contained shocking and scandalous claims about the personal conduct of President Trump,” along with allegations that he had paid bribes to Russian officials to help advance his business interests in the country.
Continuing, Tomlinson argued that Trump’s case “is that this personal data is egregiously inaccurate.” Further, in a written witness statement, Trump argued that Steele’s allegations were “wholly untrue.” Particularly, he emphasized that he did not engage in “perverted sexual behavior including the hiring of prostitutes … in the presidential suite of a hotel in Moscow,” take part in St. Petersburg “sex parties,” bribe Russian officials, or provide them with blackmail material.
However, the London High Court judge, Judge Karen Steyn, threw out the case. Steyn said that the case should be dismissed because “There are no compelling reasons to allow the claim to proceed to trial.” Explaining why, she said that Trump had “chosen to allow many years to elapse -– without any attempt to vindicate his reputation in this jurisdiction -– since he was first made aware of the dossier” in January 2017. Continuing, Judge Steyn said, “The claim for compensation and/or damages … is bound to fail.”
Trump, for his part, has mainly focused on the New York civil fraud trial that he is fighting. In it. NY AG Letitia James alleges that he committed fraud by overstating the value of his properties. Exploding on her in a Monday, February 5 post on Truth Social, Trump wrote, “Commercial properties are under DEFAULT & LITIGATION all over the World, except for my properties where loans have been PAID OFF IN FULL, no defaults, great & powerful Financial Statements with strong protective clause, and I’m being sued by the NYSAG for borrowings from very happy lenders who were represented by the biggest and best law firms on what turned out to be perfect loans. Election Interference…This case should, for the good of our Country, be dismissed. Should never have been brought!”
In another post, he wrote about Presidential Immunity, writing, “IF IMMUNITY IS NOT GRANTED TO A PRESIDENT, EVERY PRESIDENT THAT LEAVES OFFICE WILL BE IMMEDIATELY INDICTED BY THE OPPOSING PARTY. WITHOUT COMPLETE IMMUNITY, A PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO PROPERLY FUNCTION!“
"*" indicates required fields