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CNN —Former President Donald Trump is asking Judge Tanya Chutkan to recuse herself from the 2020 election subversion case against him brought by special counsel Jack Smith. Trump, in a new court filing Monday, pointed to comments that Chutkan made in cases involving January 6 US Capitol rioters. “Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President,” Chutkan wrote in that ruling. Trump’s request that she not oversee the criminal case against him is likely an uphill battle, as it was filed with Chutkan herself. Trump also previously sought the removal of the judge overseeing the New York criminal case against him related to hush money payments.

Persons: Donald Trump, Tanya Chutkan, Jack Smith, Trump, Chutkan, Trump’s, ”, ” Chutkan, Obama, … It’s, ” Trump, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Donald Middlebrooks, Juan Merchan, Kamala Harris ’, Merchan Organizations: CNN, Capitol, Justice Department, Trump, New, Biden Locations: Florida, New York

☆ Family of woman who died from ingesting kratom, a legal opioid-like herbal extract, awarded $11 million in damages
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-30 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A 39-year-old mother of four died in 2021 after ingesting kratom, a legal herbal extract. The seller, Kratom Distro, has now been ordered to pay her family and estate $11 million. Kratom was banned by the Drug Enforcement Administration in 2016 but the move was quickly overturned. Kratom Distro did not fight the lawsuit, and the company's owner gave no comment on the judgment when approached by The Guardian. Kratom Distro did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Persons: Kratom Distro, Kratom, Krystal Talavera, Biagio Vultaggio, Vultaggio, Talavera, Mitragynine, Devin Filippelli, Donald Middlebrooks Organizations: Drug, Administration, Service, Guardian, The Guardian, American Kratom Association Locations: Wall, Silicon, Southeast Asia, Florida, Beach County, Mississippi, Louisiana

☆ Abortion pill ruling puts 'judge shopping' concerns back in spotlight
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Kevin Breuninger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

The Alliance For Hippocratic Medicine wants Judge Kacsmaryk to nullify the FDA's medical approval of mifepristone, which would effectively ban the abortion pill across the US. They argue plaintiffs are skirting the usual process of assigning cases randomly — which is mainly intended to "avoid judge shopping," as one federal court explains. Medication abortion is the most common form of the procedure in the U.S.An attorney for the ADF has rebuffed accusations of judge shopping. Trump was accused of judge shopping for Florida federal Judge Aileen Cannon, whom he appointed, when he filed a sweeping lawsuit in 2022 against his former political rival Hillary Clinton in Cannon's division in Florida. Ziegler echoed the view that even the appearance of judge shopping can erode trust in the courts.

☆ Notable legal clouds that continue to hang over Donald Trump in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Dan Berman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +15 min

Trump has denied having an affair with Daniels and says the probe by Bragg, a Democrat, is politically motivated. According to the lawsuit, the Trump Organization deceived lenders, insurers and tax authorities by inflating the value of his properties using misleading appraisals. A federal judge ruled that Trump and FBI Director Christopher Wray can be deposed for two hours each as part of the lawsuit. “What (Trump’s lawsuit) lacks in substance and legal support it seeks to substitute with length, hyperbole, and the settling of scores and grievances,” US District Judge Donald Middlebrooks wrote. Woodward later released “The Trump Tapes,” an audiobook featuring eight hours of raw interviews with Trump interspersed with the author’s commentary.

☆ Donald Trump sues Bob Woodward for releasing audio of their interviews
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( David Goldman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Former President Donald Trump has sued journalist Bob Woodward for copyright violations, claiming Woodward released audio from their interviews without Trump’s consent. Woodward conducted several interviews with Trump for “Rage,” the author’s second book on the former president that hit bookstores in September 2020. Woodward later released “The Trump Tapes,” an audiobook featuring eight hours of raw interviews with Trump interspersed with the author’s commentary. That book, which went on sale October 25, 2022, contains the 20 interviews Woodward conducted with Trump from 2016 through 2020, including those for “Rage.”But Trump, in the lawsuit filed Monday in the Northern District of Florida, claims he did not give Woodward permission to release the audio of the interviews. In that case, US District Judge Donald Middlebrooks of the Southern District of Florida wrote that Trump has demonstrated a “pattern of misusing the courts to serve political purposes” as he ticked through several other failed lawsuits Trump has brought in recent years.

☆ News outlets raced to publish Trump’s lawsuit against Woodward. Experts say the suit ‘has no legal merit whatsoever’
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Trump this week filed a $50 million lawsuit against the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, alleging that when Woodward published audio of their interviews in his audiobook it breached his rights by constituting copyright violations. Most legal experts CNN contacted on Tuesday quickly dismissed Trump’s lawsuit against Woodward as meritless. But instead of major outlets pausing to gather this much-needed context after Trump filed his suit against Woodward, most newsrooms simply published stories echoing his complaint. Judge Donald Middlebrooks pointed to Trump’s “pattern of misusing the courts to serve political purposes” as he took note of several other failed lawsuits Trump has brought in recent years. It is also dismaying given the larger discussion among the press over the years about not succumbing hook, line, and sinker for Trump’s stunts.

Former President Donald Trump has dropped the federal lawsuit he filed in Florida against New York Attorney General Letitia James. Trump's lawyers filed a notice of voluntary dismissal in the case before U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks on Friday morning. The suit charged James — who's filed a $250 million lawsuit against Trump and his company in New York state court — has "repeatedly abused her position as Attorney General for the State of New York to pursue a vendetta against President Trump." Trump had made similar claims against James in state and federal court in New York, both of which were dismissed. "Mr. Trump is a prolific and sophisticated litigant who is repeatedly using the courts to seek revenge on political adversaries.

☆ Judge tells Trump lawyers to stop filing pointless lawsuits to slow down NY investigations into his businesses
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A judge called an effort by Trump Org lawyers to slow an investigation "frivolous" and "vexatious." The federal judge denied the bid for an injunction to stop the release of some materials. The NY attorney general accuses Trump of fraud and is trying to ban him from future business in the state. Middlebrooks also noted in his ruling that a New York court previously dismissed Trump's efforts to try stop James' investigation. James accuses Trump of committing fraud with his businesses, and is trying to permanently ban Trump and his three oldest children from conducting business in New York.

☆ The notable legal clouds that continue to hang over Donald Trump
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Dan Berman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +17 min

CNN —All eyes are on former President Donald Trump, whose third White House bid has already become mired in controversy. The Justice Department investigation continues into whether documents from the Trump White House were illegally mishandled when they were brought to Mar-a-Lago in Florida after he left office. Any unauthorized retention or destruction of White House documents could violate a criminal law that prohibits the removal or destruction of official government records, legal experts told CNN. During the panel’s hearings this summer, fingers were pointed at GOP lawmakers and Trump allies who tried to help overturn the election and Trump White House officials who failed to stop the former president’s actions. Recently, DOJ moved to compel additional testimony from former White House counsel Pat Cipollone and deputy White House counsel Patrick Philbin.

☆ Trump Lawyers Sanctioned for Filing ‘Frivolous’ Lawsuit Against Hillary Clinton
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Jan Wolfe | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Alina Habba, with Peter Ticktin, led a group of lawyers for former President Donald Trump in a case dismissed in September. A federal judge in Florida has imposed monetary sanctions on a team of former President Donald Trump’s lawyers, castigating them for filing a “frivolous” lawsuit against Hillary Clinton and other Democrats earlier this year. In a scathing 19-page decision, U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks said a group of lawyers for Mr. Trump, led by Alina Habba and Peter Ticktin, showed a “cavalier attitude towards facts” throughout the brief history of the case.

☆ Judge fined a group of Trump lawyers $50k each for filing meritless and mistake-strewn lawsuit against Hillary Clinton
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A group of Trump lawyers was fined over a failed case alleging a vast pro-Clinton conspiracy. The judge called it a "deliberate use of the judicial system to pursue a political agenda." On Friday, Judge Donald Middlebrooks slammed the failed case, describing it as "a deliberate use of the judicial system to pursue a political agenda." In particular, Trump's lawyers accused Dolan of being the source of the dossier's infamous claims of an encounter between Trump and prostitutes in a Moscow hotel. But the case failed to establish this, and made several basic errors in the process, Middlebrook said.

☆ Judge sanctions Trump lawyers over 'frivolous' collusion lawsuit against Clinton, DNC
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Kevin Breuninger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

A federal judge sanctioned attorneys for former President Donald Trump on Thursday as penalty for advancing a "frivolous" lawsuit against a raft of Trump's political enemies, including Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee. "Additional sanctions may be appropriate," the judge noted, after suggesting the lawyers' behavior may require the "attention of the Bar and disciplinary authorities." The sanctions — which require Trump's lawyers to pay $50,000 and compensate a defense attorney's legal fees — came two months after Middlebrooks had tossed out the suit, describing it as a "two-hundred-page political manifesto." "Thirty-one individuals and organizations were summoned to court, forced to hire lawyers to defend against frivolous claims. The judge included an excerpt of Habba's from that Sept. 10 interview, when she slammed Middlebrooks as a "Clinton judge" who "basically ignored every factual basis" for the lawsuit.

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