(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . TFG Tells English Court "I was too busy being President to sue over Russia Dossier". 2024???? [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-16 Lawyers for the immediate ex-President of the USA were in the English High Court on Monday trying to bring a case against the company that compiled the Steele “Russia, Russia, Russia” Dossier on Putin’s interference in the 2018 Presidential elections. On the face of it his case looks, to use US legal parlance, “like a dumpster fire”. But could the real purpose be to try to suppress discussion of the Russian interference in the 2024 Presidential and the 2020 mid-term elections? Monday’s was a preliminary hearing before the judge, Mrs Justice Steyn who was being asked, in part, to allow the action at all. It was brought after the period allowed in English law. In arguing the case should go forward the Plaintiff submitted a written statement that “he had not had time to sue in the UK before now because he had been busy being president.” I believe it is over 2½ years since Mr Biden took office so that may not be an argument that’s up to snuff for the English courts. That’s even if the Plaintiff believed he was still President. However after I picked myself up from the floor I was laughing on, I considered another motivation. This is not a simple defamation case to clear the Plaintiff’s name to show he had not "engaged in perverted sexual behaviour" As ever the devil is in the detail. Hugh Tomlinson KC, for the 77-year-old former president, said the dossier also falsely claimed he had "paid bribes to Russian officials to further his business interests" and "took part in sex parties in St Petersburg". "[He] intends to discharge his burden by giving evidence in this court," the lawyer said, should the case go to full trial in the future. The allegations, the court heard, were at the heart of the claim for damages because they amounted to a breach of the UK's strict data protection laws that govern what can be done with personal information, even if the information is not true.alleged “ So not only is the intent to suppress any further collection of potentially compromising information but also to threaten anyone passing on that information to anyone outside of the UK/EU with criminal sanctions. The UK’s data protection legislation was written when part of the EU so there are similar laws community-wide. Companies outside the area have to comply or face large fines. Provisions include cookie collected data and there must be opt-outs for UK/EU residents. This is why I cannot see many US news sites as they block them to save the programming required. A company found in gross breach like Cambridge Analytica can lose their right to hold or process personal data and be put out of business, in addition to potentially very large fines. A victory for the Paintiff might be used as a precedent in other European countries. Here I think the Plaintiff might have gotten the wrong end of the stick. In the same way he thought a “worthless” clause meant he can lie, he doesn’t understand “data”. The laws he is trying to threaten with apply to computer databases . Steele’s notebooks or tapes recording statements about alleged “perverted sexual behaviour” are not computer data in the sense of the acts. Looks suspiciously like a client with a vague knowledge of law telling his King’s Counsel what to say. I hope he has been cautioned that in the unlike;y event of going to trial; a jury would have to assess the financial harm caused to his reputation. This could be any amount but I believe the minimum award has recently risen from a penny to a pound. I doubt if Mrs Justice Steyn will have to address that point when she gives her decision in due course. The first problem is that the Plaintiff appears to be suing the wrong party. Antony White KC, for Orbis, told the court that Mr Trump had accepted that the company was not responsible for BuzzFeed's publication of the document. Watched on by Mr Steele, Mr White told Mrs Justice Steyn the case had no realistic prospect of winning and the former president had run out of time to even start it. Orbis had never intended the dossier to become public and had long ago destroyed its own copies of the research. So clearly a libel case brought against a US company would fail under US law and precedents and the Candidate for the Republican nomination thought bringing up the tapes would be a good idea to deflect from the Russian influence currently going on. Without wishing to preempt reserved judgement let me channel my inner Lord Denning and give you my summation. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/16/2199788/-TFG-Tells-English-Court-I-was-too-busy-being-President-to-sue-over-Russia-Dossier-2024?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/