President Donald Trump asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to revive his dismissed lawsuit accusing his 2016 Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, former FBI Director James Comey and others of conspiring to undermine his campaign by linking it to Russia.
Trump filed the appeal after a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit and ordered him and one of his lawyers to pay nearly $1 million in sanctions for bringing what the court described as a "frivolous” case. A federal appeals court later upheld both the dismissal and the sanctions.
Trump filed the lawsuit in 2022, after leaving office following his 2020 election defeat. The lengthy complaint, filed in federal court in Florida, named Clinton, Comey, former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, the Democratic National Committee and numerous other defendants.
Trump, who has repeatedly pursued legal action against political opponents, alleged that Clinton and her allies conspired before the 2016 election to discredit him by promoting what he called a "false narrative” that his campaign had colluded with Russia.
The lawsuit included claims of racketeering and conspiracy to commit injurious falsehood, among other allegations.
Trump defeated Clinton in the 2016 election despite losing the national popular vote. He served his first term as president from 2017 to 2021.
U.S. government officials have accused Russia of interfering in the 2016 election. An investigation led by former FBI Director Robert Mueller documented extensive contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives who sought to influence the election in Trump's favor. Trump has dismissed allegations of Russian interference as a "hoax.”
Since losing to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020, Trump has repeatedly made false claims of widespread voting fraud in that election. He regained the presidency by defeating Democrat Kamala Harris in 2024 and has continued to make those claims.
'Political manifesto'
U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks dismissed Trump's lawsuit against Clinton, citing numerous deficiencies, including that Trump had waited too long to bring some of his claims. The judge likened the lawsuit to a "two-hundred-page political manifesto outlining his grievances against those that have opposed him.”
Middlebrooks later ordered Trump and his lead attorney in the case, Alina Habba, to pay nearly $1 million in fees and costs. He imposed the sanctions for bringing a lawsuit that he said was intended "to dishonestly advance a political narrative.” The judge also criticized Trump and his lawyers for a "continuing pattern of misuse of the courts.”
Middlebrooks found that the lawsuit relied on abusive litigation tactics, contained "knowingly false” factual allegations and advanced "frivolous” legal theories.
The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the judge's rulings in 2025, including the sanctions.
"Many of Trump's and Habba's legal arguments were indeed frivolous,” the 11th Circuit said.
In court filings, lawyers for Trump and Habba argued that the lower courts' decisions were having a "profound impact on the presidency, and the nation as a whole.”
Mueller, who was appointed special counsel by the Justice Department, issued a report in 2019 detailing his investigation. The report concluded that Russia "interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion,” but said the investigation "did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”
Mueller also reported finding "numerous links” between the Trump campaign and Russia, adding that the campaign "expected it would benefit” from Moscow's efforts to influence the election in Trump's favor.
Trump's then-Attorney General William Barr appointed another special counsel, John Durham, in 2019 to investigate potential misconduct by the FBI.
In a 2023 report, Durham concluded that the FBI lacked "actual evidence” to investigate Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and relied too heavily on information supplied by Trump's political opponents to launch the probe.
Last year, Trump's Justice Department indicted Comey, one of several of the president's adversaries to face criminal charges, accusing him of making false statements and obstructing Congress after allegations that he had lied about authorizing leaks to the news media. A federal judge subsequently dismissed the indictment, finding that the prosecutor Trump had selected to pursue the case was unlawfully appointed.
Steele, working for an opposition research firm hired by a law firm on behalf of the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee, produced a dossier alleging ties between Trump's campaign and Russia, along with other salacious claims that Trump denied.