Donald Trump’s lawsuit over ‘Steele dossier’ thrown out by UK court

LONDON, (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s lawsuit against a British private investigations firm over a dossier which alleged ties between Trump’s campaign and Russia was thrown out by London’s High Court yesterday.

Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, had brought a data protection lawsuit against Orbis Business Intelligence about claims in a dossier written by its co-founder, former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele.

Judge Karen Steyn ruled that the former U.S. president’s case could not continue, saying in a written ruling that “there are no compelling reasons to allow the claim to proceed”.

Trump said in a witness statement made public in October that he brought the case to prove claims in the so-called Steele dossier, published by the BuzzFeed website in 2017, that he engaged in “perverted sexual acts” in Russia, are false.

Many of the allegations were never substantiated and lawyers for Trump, 77, said that the report is “egregiously inaccurate” and contained “numerous false, phoney or made-up allegations”.

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

Orbis argued that Trump brought the claim simply to address his “longstanding grievances” against the company and Steele.

Steyn said in her ruling that she did not need to decide that because Trump has “no reasonable grounds for bringing a claim for compensation or damages”.

The London lawsuit is one of many legal cases involving Trump, who faces four separate criminal prosecutions in the United States.