🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
A British court has thrown out a damages lawsuit from Donald Trump relating to allegations the former president took part in "perverted" sexual acts and gave bribes to Russian officials.
Trump brought a suit last October against Orbis Business Intelligence, a consultancy founded by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, alleging breach of data protection rights. Steele was behind a now largely debunked dossier which sought to highlight Trump's alleged ties with Russia.
The Steele Dossier alleged that Trump had been "compromised" by the Russian security service, the FSB, and included unfounded allegations that Trump took part in sex parties and engaged in "golden showers" with prostitutes in Moscow.
In a ruling on Thursday, a British High Court judge has now thrown out the data protection claim filed by Trump ruling it will not be successful.
"In my view, there are no compelling reasons to allow the claim to proceed to trial in circumstances where (whatever the merits of the allegation that the Personal Data are inaccurate may be), the claim for compensation and/or damages [...] is bound to fail," wrote Justice Karen Steyn.
The judge also ruled that Trump had filed his claim too late as the limitations in data cases such under British law are six years.
"In reality, the claimant is seeking court findings to vindicate his reputation in circumstances where has not been able to formulate any viable remedy which he would have a real prospect of obtaining, or which would itself be of any utility; and having chosen to allow many years to elapse – without any attempt to vindicate his reputation in this jurisdiction – since he was first made aware of the dossier, including the memoranda, on 6 January 2017," Steyn said.
The Steele Dossier aimed to detail allegations of Russia's attempts to intervene in the 2016 Election. The report composed by Steele, who previously ran MI6's Russia desk, was published by BuzzFeed in 2017 just days ahead of Trump's inauguration.
Trump immediately dismissed the allegations in the document, including that there exists a tape showing that the Republican had hired sex workers to urinate in a hotel room in Moscow, as "fake news" and "phony stuff."
Trump's lawyer, Hugh Tomlinson, said at a hearing in October that the former president "suffered personal and reputational damage and distress" because his data protection rights were violated with the disputed allegations contained in the Steele Dossier.
Trump also denied that he took part in "perverted sexual behavior" including the hiring of prostitutes in the presidential suite of a hotel in Moscow, taken part in "sex parties" in St. Petersburg, bribed Russian officials, or provided them with "sufficient material to blackmail me."
As well as saying the suit had been filed too late, Orbis argued that the case should be dismissed as the document was published by BuzzFeed without the permission of Steele or Orbis.
About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, and Florida ... Read more