Key facts
- Donald Trump asked the US Supreme Court to revive his lawsuit against Hillary Clinton.
- The lawsuit accused Clinton, James Comey, Christopher Steele, and others of conspiring to rig the 2016 election.
- A federal judge dismissed the suit and imposed nearly $1 million in sanctions against Trump and his lawyer.
- An appeals court upheld the dismissal and sanctions.
- Trump alleged Clinton conspired to discredit him with a false narrative of collusion with Russia.
Donald Trump has asked the US Supreme Court to revive his dismissed lawsuit against his 2016 Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, accusing her, former FBI Director James Comey, and others of conspiring to rig the election by linking his campaign to Russia. The appeal comes after a federal judge threw out the case and imposed nearly $1 million in sanctions against Trump and one of his lawyers for what the judge called a "frivolous" suit intended to "dishonestly advance a political narrative."
US District Judge Donald Middlebrooks likened Trump's lawsuit to a "two-hundred-page political manifesto outlining his grievances against those that have opposed him." He found the suit contained "knowingly false" allegations and "frivolous" legal theories, and ordered Trump and his attorney, Alina Habba, to pay fees and costs. The Atlanta-based 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal and sanctions in 2025, stating that "Many of Trump's and Habba's legal arguments were indeed frivolous."
Trump, who lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden, sued Clinton, Comey, former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, the Democratic National Committee, and others in 2022. He alleged that Clinton and her allies conspired to discredit him with a "false narrative" of collusion with Russia. The suit also alleged "racketeering" and "conspiracy to commit injurious falsehood."
The Mueller report, issued in 2019, stated that Russia "interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion," but concluded that the investigation "did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government." The report did note "numerous links" and that the campaign "expected it would benefit" from Russian interference.
Separately, Special Counsel John Durham concluded in a 2023 report that the FBI lacked "actual evidence" to investigate Trump's 2016 campaign and relied too heavily on information from political opponents. Trump's Justice Department also indicted Comey in 2023 on charges of making false statements, but a federal judge dismissed the indictment, finding the prosecutor unlawfully appointed. Steele, working for a firm hired by the Clinton campaign and DNC, produced a dossier alleging ties between Trump's campaign and Russia, which Trump has denied.