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Donald Trump faces $382K in legal dues after losing ‘Steele Dossier’ defamation case
Donald Trump’s legal skirmish over the ‘Steele Dossier’ ends with a hefty price tag of $382,000 in legal fees.
A British judge has ruled that the former President of the United States, Donald Trump, will pay $382,000 in legal fees to Orbis Business Intelligence, the company he took to court unsuccessfully regarding the “Steele Dossier.”
The dossier became public following his election in 2016.
This decision was reported by various media outlets and follows the dismissal of Trump’s lawsuit against Orbis, a company established by ex-British intelligence officer Christopher Steele. The judge had previously declared that the lawsuit was “bound to fail.”
The financial slap for Trump may increase as the exact costs he must cover for the unsuccessful lawsuit are yet to be determined by a specialist judge. The lawsuit, initiated in September, led Orbis to seek approximately $760,000.
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Steele made headlines with his explosive memos that chronicled then-presidential candidate Donald Trump’s alleged ties with Russia during the 2016 campaign. Among the more salacious claims were accusations of Trump’s participation in risqué activities while in Russia.
Trump denied any allegations against him
The allegations, which Trump vehemently denied, were brought to the forefront by his lawyer, Hugh Tomlinson, during a legal battle.
Tomlinson argued that the dossier’s contents, which painted Trump in compromising situations involving “sex parties” in St Petersburg and encounters with sex workers in Moscow, has thrown mud at his client's reputation.
The dossier is ‘scandalous’
Tomlinson said the dossier “contained shocking and scandalous claims about the personal conduct of President Trump” which went as far as to insinuate that Trump had engaged in bribery with Russian dignitaries.
On the defence, Orbis Business Intelligence emphasised that the document was never meant for the public. It was BuzzFeed that, without Orbis’s approval, released the dossier to the public in early January 2017.
The presiding judge, Karen Steyn, sided with Orbis on February 1st, subsequently slashing the legal fees Orbis sought from £634,000 (approximately $809,000) to just over half that figure.
These legal woes are not first between Trump and Steele dossier. Last year, a federal judge in Florida dismissed a lawsuit filed by Trump against Steele, Hillary Clinton, and certain ex-FBI officials. In that suit, Trump alleged a conspiracy to spur the Russia investigation, which loomed over his term in the Oval Office.
