Trump asks Supreme Court to revive Clinton lawsuit — SkimNews
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- Trump filed a Supreme Court appeal on October 9, 2026 seeking to revive his 2022 lawsuit against Hillary Clinton, James Comey, Christopher Steele, the DNC, and others, alleging a conspiracy to tie his 2016 campaign to Russia.
- U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks dismissed the suit, imposed nearly $1 million in sanctions on Trump and lawyer Alina Habba, and likened the complaint to a "two-hundred-page political manifesto" intended to "dishonestly advance a political narrative."
- The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal and sanctions in 2025, agreeing that "many of Mr. Trump's and Ms. Habba's legal arguments were indeed frivolous."
- Trump's lawyers argued Supreme Court intervention is needed to "protect the Presidency," claiming lower courts used sanctions to punish legitimate legal positions he deferred filing while serving his first term.
- The Mueller report documented extensive contacts between Trump campaign members and Russian operatives but did not establish criminal conspiracy, while a later Durham report concluded the FBI lacked "actual evidence" to launch its 2016 investigation.
- Comey, one of the named defendants, was separately indicted by Trump's Justice Department on charges of making false statements and obstructing Congress, but a federal judge dismissed that indictment over the unlawful appointment of Trump's handpicked prosecutor.
Why it matters: Trump is asking the justices to create a shield against judicial sanctions for sitting presidents, a framing that elevates a personal grievance case into a separation-of-powers test. With nearly $1 million in penalties already on the books against him and his attorney, the appeal tests whether courts can police abusive litigation by a president without being branded as punishing the office itself.
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