Clinton’s attorneys say the sprawling, 108-page complaint is entirely without legal merit and amounts to little more than a publicity stunt. | Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
By Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney
04/20/2022 03:14 PM EDT
Hillary Clinton is moving quickly to shut down an epic federal lawsuit that former President Donald Trump filed last month accusing her, her political allies and various government officials of a racketeering conspiracy to propagate false claims about Trump and Russia in connection with the 2016 presidential race.
In a motion filed Wednesday with a federal court in South Florida, Clinton’s attorneys say the sprawling, 108-page complaint is entirely without legal merit and amounts to little more than a publicity stunt.
“Whatever the utility of Plaintiff’s Complaint as a fundraising tool, a press release, or a list of political grievances, it has no merit as a lawsuit, and should be dismissed with prejudice,” longtime Clinton attorney David Kendall wrote.
While some other defendants have sought to stall the suit as they assess how to respond, Clinton’s lawyers wasted little time in asking U.S. District Court Judge Donald Middlebrooks to dismiss the claims against her “with prejudice” — meaning Trump would not be able to reformulate the suit and re-file.
As a technical matter, Clinton’s motion applies only to her, so it can’t shut down the entire case. However, other defendants — who include various Clinton campaign aides, former Democratic...
A front-page article with the byline of veteran New York Times opinion writer Nicholas Kristof is the latest poisonous example of what I call the NGO “halo effect.” Headlined “The Silence That Mee...