Former President Trump is suing the former British spy behind the controversial Steele Dossier that detailed intel on potential links between Trump and Russia, asserting the report contained “shocking and scandalous claims” that were false and harmful to the former president’s reputation, the Hill reports. Trump’s lawyers filed suit in Britain against Orbis Business Intelligence, the company founded by Christopher Steele, a former MI6 agent, who published a 35-page dossier including uncorroborated claims that Trump’s campaign and Russian agents conspired to influence the 2016 U.S. election. Hugh Tomlinson, a lawyer for Trump, who appeared before a judge at London’s High Court on Monday, alleged the company violated British data protection laws and has “suffered personal and reputational damage and distress,” as a result.
The former president has repeatedly claimed the dossier was “fake news” and a political witch hunt following the 2016 presidential election. Steele, who led the Russia desk for MI6 — formally known as the Secret Intelligence Service — is looking to have the lawsuit dismissed during two days of hearings at London’s High Court. Steele’s dossier has since been largely discredited and determined to be funded by Democrats during the 2016 presidential election. Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) settled a campaign finance inquiry last year, agreeing to pay $113,000 in fines stemming from the dossier. While the dossier itself was not the basis for the FBI’s probe into Trump’s alleged ties to Russia, the report was heavily involved with the investigation led by former special counsel Robert Mueller.
Meanwhile, Trump continues to fight various legal battles in the United States, including an ongoing civil trial in New York over more than a decade of alleged fraud.