Britain's High Court Thursday dismissed a lawsuit brought by former president Donald Trump over the "Steele Dossier." Former MI6 agent Christopher Steele produced the document containing allegations about purported Trump collusion with Russia and alleged hiring of prostitutes. Trump denies the allegations. Photo by Tannen Maury/UPI |
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Feb. 1 (UPI) -- Britain's High Court Thursday dismissed a lawsuit brought by former U.S. President Donald Trump over a 2016 document by a former MI6 agent alleging he was linked to Russia through bribes and sex acts.
High Court Justice Karen Steyn threw out the lawsuit against Orbis Business Intelligence Ltd., the company founded by former British Intelligence Officer Christopher Steele, saying that Trump's efforts to sue the company for violating his digital privacy rights had come outside of the six-year time limit for such actions.
"There are no compelling reasons to allow the claim to proceed to trial," Steyn wrote.
She added that Trump had "no reasonable grounds for bringing a claim for compensation or damages and no real prospect of successfully obtaining such a remedy," noting that the only solution offered was "erasing or restricting processing" of the document.
Steyn noted, however, that doing so would be "pointless and unnecessary" as the document was publicly available on the Internet and Steele and his company had already deleted its copies.
The High Court ruling dismissing the suit said no decision was made to determine "the accuracy or inaccuracy" of the so-called "Steele Dossier" which contained allegations that Trump colluded with Russians in the 2016 presidential election and participated in Russian sex parties.
The dossier claimed that sources indicated the Kremlin had "been feeding Trump and his team valuable intelligence on his political opponents, including then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton."
It said Russians had been "cultivating" Trump for years offering him various lucrative real estate development deals in Russia.
It included uncorroborated information from a source that claimed to be present when Trump stayed in the presidential suite of the Ritz Carlton hotel in Moscow.
According to the dossier, the source reported that Trump allegedly employed a number of prostitutes there and said the hotel was known to be bugged with concealed cameras and microphones placed by the Russian FSB.
Trump's lawyers said in a court filing that these dossier allegations compelled Trump to "explain to his family, friends and colleagues that the embarrassing allegations about his private life were untrue. This was extremely distressing for the claimant."
Trump said in a witness statement that "none of these things" listed in the dossier "ever happened."
"I can confirm that I did not, at any time engage in perverted sexual behavior including the hiring of prostitutes to engage in 'golden showers' in the presidential suite of a hotel in Moscow," Trump said.
The document, authored by Steele was shared with the FBI and the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and later obtained and published by Buzzfeed in 2017.
Trump claimed in the suit that the publication of the dossier caused "personal and reputational damage and distress."
He also argued that he was unable to file the case in Britain earlier because he was busy carrying out his duties as president.
