London Court Dismisses Trump Case Against Ex-MI6 Spy Over Kremlin Dossier

LONDON (Bloomberg News/TNS) — Donald Trump lost his London lawsuit against an ex-British spy after a court dismissed his claim linked to the notorious dossier about alleged ties between the Kremlin and the former U.S. president’s successful run to the White House.

The Republican Party front-runner for this year’s presidential election sued ex-MI6 agent Christopher Steele and his Orbis business intelligence firm last year in a data-protection case, saying he’d suffered “significant damage and distress” from the publication of the dossier. He’d sought a judge’s ruling that statements in the report were false.

The Steele dossier made headlines around the world when it was leaked to BuzzFeed in January 2017 with allegations that the presidential campaign had been compromised by the Russian security service.

Judge Karen Steyn dismissed the lawsuit Thursday, saying Trump had no prospect of obtaining compensation for any distress he may have suffered. She said she wouldn’t determine the accuracy of the dossier itself.

“In reality, the claimant is seeking court findings to vindicate his reputation in circumstances where has not been able to formulate any viable remedy which he would have a real prospect of obtaining,” the judge said.

Trump, who already faces several criminal trials in the U.S., said previously in legal filings that he was prepared to come to London to testify in the case.

In a statement, a Trump campaign spokesman said the ex-president “will continue to fight for the truth and against falsehoods such as ones promulgated by Steele and his cohorts.”

Steele was retained by a Washington-based research firm in June 2016 to examine Trump’s links to Russia. The Democratic National Committee and the campaign of Hillary Clinton hired Fusion GPS after Trump was headed for the nomination.

Lawyers for Steele’s firm argued the claim had no reasonable prospect of success and that Trump was merely pursuing a “vendetta.” Trump has a history of “harassing perceived enemies and others against whom he bears a grudge,” Orbis’ lawyers said.

Russian billionaires Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven previously successfully sued Steele in a data-protection suit, but a libel claim brought by another wealthy Russian individual failed.

Orbis said the dossier was never intended to be made public and Trump couldn’t hold the firm responsible for the Buzzfeed publication itself.