UK judge throws out Donald Trump’s lawsuit over ‘Steele dossier’ containing ‘scandalous claims’

A judge in London, on Thursday (Feb 1) threw out a lawsuit by Donald Trump over a dossier which alleged ties between the former United States president’s campaign and Russia. The lawsuit included accusations against a former British spy of making “shocking and scandalous claims” which Trump said were false and harmed his reputation.

UK judge dismisses lawsuit by Trump

London High Court Judge Karen Steyn moved to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Trump against British private investigations firm, Orbis Business Intelligence, saying, “There are no compelling reasons to allow the claim to proceed to trial.”

She also wrote that the data protection claim was “bound to fail” and threw out the former president’s demand for compensation based on it. Trump sought damages from the Orbis founded by Christopher Steele for allegedly violating Britishdata protection laws.

However, Steyn, in her ruling said that the claim for compensation by Trump had “no reasonable grounds” and that he had “chosen to allow many years to elapse – without any attempt to vindicate his reputation” in the UK courts since the dossier came out.

What were the ‘scandalous claims’?

The ruling delivers another blow to Trump who is running for the 2024 presidential election while dealing with his many legal woes, including four separate criminal prosecutions, in the US.

In 2016, Steele’s firm created a dossier which contained rumours and uncorroborated allegations that sparked a political storm just before Trump’s inauguration, in January 2017.

The so-called Steele dossier alleged ties between Trump and Moscow saying that the former president has been “compromised” by the Russian security service, FSB.

The dossier based on unverified information also said that Moscow had damning videotapes of Trump with prostitutes during a 2013 trip to the Russian capital.

According to a witness statement made public in October, Trump said he brought the case to prove claims in the Steele dossier that he engaged in “perverted sexual acts” in Russia, are false.

Steyn, in her ruling, noted that Trump said the allegations are untrue, adding that “I have not considered, or made any determination, as to the accuracy or inaccuracy of the (allegations).”

Trump’s lawyer, Hugh Tomlinson at the hearing also claimed the former president “suffered personal and reputational damage and distress” because his data protection rights were violated.

Meanwhile, Orbis argued that Trump brought the claim simply to address his “longstanding grievances” against the company and Steele and should be thrown out since the report was never meant to be made public.

The British firm also said that the dossier was published by BuzzFeed without the permission of Steele or Orbis and that Trump filed the claim too late.

(With inputs from agencies)