• A London High Court Judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit filed by former US Pres. Donald Trump against Orbis Business Intelligence, a company founded by British spy Christopher Steele. Trump argued the claims in the notorious Steele dossier were false and harmed his reputation. CBS (LR: 2 CP: 5)
• In 2017, Buzzfeed published the dossier, which alleged Trump engaged in “perverted sexual behavior” in Russia and accused him of paying bribes to Russian officials to advance his business interests. Trump called all of the allegations “wholly untrue.” Associated Press (LR: 3 CP: 5)
• Judge Karen Steyn didn’t offer an opinion on the validity of Trump’s claims, but she said there were “no compelling reasons” to allow Trump’s lawsuit to go to trial. She went on to say that Trump allowed “many years to elapse” before filing his complaint and that the “claim for compensation and/or damages…is bound to fail.” Independent (LR: 2 CP: 3)
• The lawsuit argued that Steele’s 2016 dossier, in addition to being false and defamatory, violated Trump’s data protection rights, and it sought to use the UK’s data protection laws to sue Orbis. Trump said that he couldn’t have sued earlier due to time restraints as president. BBC News (LR: 3 CP: 5)
• Steele, the former head of the Russia desk from Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, called the MI6, compiled a series of memos in 2016 claiming that Trump had taken part in “sex parties” and engaged in sexual activities with prostitutes in Moscow. Steyn said that despite the content of the dossier, Orbis cannot be blamed for simply possessing the material that was later leaked by Buzzfeed. Independent (LR: 2 CP: 3)
• The dossier was funded by Hillary Clinton’s Democratic party, and in 2022, the US Federal Election Commission (FEC) fined Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign $8K and the Democratic National Committee $105K for concealing their funding of the report. However, the FEC threw out a complaint against the British spy. CBS (LR: 2 CP: 5)

Anti-Trump narrative:

• Whether he’s the plaintiff or the defendant, Donald Trump continues to lose every legal battle he’s engaged in. The petulant former president complained for years about the Steele dossier, yet he waited many years to file any sort of legal action. Judge Steyn correctly called out the frivolous suit and his passivity, but that doesn’t end Trump’s legal woes by a longshot. This ruling is just an omen for future legal losses in Trump’s future.
  BUSINESS INSIDER (LR: 3 CP: 4)

Pro-Trump narrative:

• Everyone knows that the Steele dossier was a slanderous fabrication paid for by Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party that sought to undermine Trump before he even took office. Even a biased judge couldn’t refute the heinous lies that the dossier contained, simply dismissing Trump’s case because he let too much time elapse. The judge also used various legal technicalities to throw out the case and deprive Trump of having a legitimate hearing. Regardless of the outcome, the Steele dossier exposed the corruption of Trump’s enemies.
  DAILY CALLER (LR: 5 CP: 4)

Nerd narrative:

• There’s a 60% chance that Donald Trump will be convicted of at least one crime in his federal court cases before the end of 2024, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
  METACULUS (LR: 3 CP: 3)