Judge Throws Out Trump’s Case Blaming Dossier for Ruining His Reputation

(USNewsMag.com) – A London judge just threw out a lawsuit against former President Donald Trump that alleged a dossier released in 2016 by a British spy made false claims that harmed his reputation.

London Judge Karen Steyn said that “no compelling reasons” could be found to allow Trump’s claim “to proceed to trial.” Trump filed the lawsuit against a corporate intelligence and investigative consultancy called Orbis Business Intelligence. Christopher Steele, a former spy for the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), co-founded the company.

Funded by Democrats, the dossier hit the press during the former president’s first big for the White House while he was running against Hillary Clinton in 2016. The dossier contained rumors and uncorroborated allegations that were picked up and rapidly spread by the mainstream media. In 2022, it was confirmed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) offered Steele $1 million to corroborate the claims in the dossier against Trump and members of his campaign. Steele was not able to do so.

Trump dismissed the dossier, which contained such rumors as him sleeping with Russian prostitutes, as part of a larger witch hunt against him, and then he filed the lawsuit in an attempt to clear his name.

Trump claims that Orbis Business Intelligence violated data protection laws in England and sought damages for the fake dossier and a definitive ruling by a judge that the allegations in it were false. His legal team argued that Trump suffered personal damage, distress, and damage to his reputation due to these data protection rights violations. Hugh Tomlinson, one of Trump’s attorneys, argued that the claims in the dossier about Trump’s “personal conduct” were “shocking and scandalous.”

Steven Cheung, Trump’s campaign spokesman, slammed Steele for his participation in the scheme and said the former British spy didn’t even attempt to “justify or try to prove” the dossier’s allegations. Cheung added that Trump plans to continue fighting for the truth and disproving the false allegations “promulgated by Steele and his cohorts.”