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Salon
Salon
Politics
Travis Gettys

Trump hit with "bad luck" in NY lawsuit

Donald Trump and Letitia James (Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images)

Donald Trump drew a bad hand in his countersuit against New York Attorney General Letitia James.

The former president had sued James for "intimidation and harassment" after her office filed a $250 million lawsuit against the Trump Organization, which the 41-page complaint alleged was an attempt to "steal, destroy or control all things Trump," and the attorney general had the case removed to federal court.

"Extremely bad luck for Trump," reported Politico's Kyle Cheney. "He filed a lawsuit against NYAG Letitia James in Florida state court. James yesterday removed the case to federal court and it landed before ... Judge Donald Middlebrooks, who just days ago sanctioned Trump attorneys for a frivolous lawsuit."

Some of Trump's own legal advisers urged the Florida attorneys who drafted the James complaint that the case was frivolous and would fail, and they unsuccessfully staged an intervention to stop the suit from being submitted to a court.

Middlebrooks just last week sanctioned some of Trump's lawyers over a lawsuit filed against Hillary Clinton and dozens of other political enemies that the judge called an intentional abuse of the legal system.

"These were political grievances masquerading as legal claims," said Middlebrooks, who dismissed Trump's lawsuit in September. "This cannot be attributed to incompetent lawyering. It was a deliberate use of the judicial system to pursue a political agenda."

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