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April 13, 2023
Judge rejects Trump’s recusal request in lawsuit against Hillary Clinton
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On Wednesday, a federal judge threw out former President Donald Trump’s request that he let himself go from overseeing Trump’s lawsuit against Hillary Clinton, individuals connected to her campaign, and former FBI and DOJ officials.
The former president’s lawyers said in their recusal motion that U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks should step down as he was appointed to the bench by then-President Bill Clinton.
“Due to the fact that Judge Middlebrooks has a relationship to the Defendant, HILLARY CLINTON’s husband, by way of his nomination as Judge to this Court, the amounts to prejudice so virulent or pervasive as to constitute bias against a party,” said the filing.
In his Wednesday ruling, Middlebrooks acknowledged that he was appointed by Clinton. “Although former President Clinton is not a party to this lawsuit, I will give Plaintiff the benefit of the doubt and equate the interests of the Clintons for the sake of analysis here,” the filing noted.
Still, the judge determined that the former president’s argument does not have any backing, writing that “to warrant recusal, something more must be involved than solely my appointment to the bench twenty-five years ago by the spouse of a litigant now before me.”
He added that the three cases that had been cited in Trump’s motion for recusal “compel no different conclusion, and indeed do not appear to support his arguments.”
According to Middlebrooks, none of the cases “discussed whether judicial appointment by a party, without more, would cause a reasonable person to suspect bias on the part of the presiding judge.”
Additionally, the ruling in one of the cases cited “emphasized that, to establish bias justifying disqualification, party must demonstrate ‘such pervasive bias and prejudice that it constitutes bias against a party’ – a showing that certainly has not been made here.”
ARTICLE: ELIZABETH HERTZBERG
MANAGING EDITOR: CARSON CHOATE
PHOTO CREDITS: POLITICO
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