A lawyer for former President Donald Trump told a London judge that his client intends to prove that a report written by a discredited former British spy contained false claims that harmed his reputation and compromised his first run for the presidency.
The attorney, Hugh Tomlinson, made his arguments on Oct. 16, asserting that the dossier “contained shocking and scandalous claims about the personal conduct of President Trump” and that it included allegations that he paid Russian officials in order to boost his economic interests. The crux of Trump’s argument, as he put it, is that “this personal data is egregiously inaccurate.”
Christopher Steele, who prepared the dossier in 2016 containing uncorroborated charges that erupted in a political upheaval shortly before the presidential election, has been named as a defendant in the lawsuit filed by the former president against Orbis Business Intelligence, the company founded by Mr. Steele.
Orbis is being sued for damages due to alleged violation of British data protection regulations. During the two days of proceedings that will take place in London’s High Court, Mr. Steele’s company will attempt to have the complaint dismissed.
President Trump is currently the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, and the case comes at a time he is also dealing with legal issues at home.
In the ongoing civil fraud trial in New York, attorneys for President Trump are defending him against allegations that he and executives of his organization misled financial institutions, insurers, and others by inflating the value of his assets and overstating his net worth to obtain loans and negotiate business transactions.
In addition, he is being investigated for criminal conduct in four separate incidents, including charges that he mishandled confidential documents, attempted to have election results changed in 2020, and paid hush money to an adult film star to cover up an affair. President Trump asserts that he suffered personal as well as reputational damage and distress due to the violation of his data protection rights.
Democrats paid Mr. Steele, a former head of the Russia desk for the Secret Intelligence Service, known as MI6, to produce research that contained scandalous allegations involving prostitutes that Russia could potentially use to blackmail the U.S. president. President Trump has claimed that the information in the dossier is fabricated and part of a political witch hunt.
According to Mr. Tomlinson, Trump intends to clear his name in court by presenting proof to support his position, showing that the charges made in the report are inaccurate.
Orbis wants the action to be dismissed on the grounds that the dossier was never intended to be made available to the general public and that it was published by the news outlet BuzzFeed without the approval of either Orbis or Mr. Steele.
In two earlier proceedings brought before the High Court, a judge decided that Orbis and Mr. Steele were not legally accountable for the repercussions resulting from the dossier’s publication.
“The actions taken in furtherance of their scheme—falsifying evidence, deceiving law enforcement, and exploiting access to highly-sensitive data sources—are so outrageous, subversive and incendiary that even the events of Watergate pale in comparison,” the 108-page suit stated.
A judge dismissed the case in September of 2022, saying the claims were unsupported.
The Epoch Times was unable to reach Orbis Business Intelligence for comment via their website.
