Donald Trump’s lawyers failed to meet a key filing deadline in his effort to stop the United States from being removed as a defendant in a lawsuit in which the former president accused Hillary Clinton and various officials of conspiring against him during the Russia probe.
U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks on Friday said Trump failed to respond by Sept. 1 to a motion to dismiss filed by the U.S. government, which is one of many defendants in the suit filed under a civil racketeering law.
Middlebrooks, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, granted Trump an extension to Sept. 6, but had a warning for the former president.
“I caution plaintiff that if no response to the United States’ motion is timely filed by the extended deadline, then I will evaluate the merits of the United States’ motion without the benefit of counterargument, and I will grant the motion if I am satisfied that there is a sufficient legal basis to do so,” the judge wrote.
Trump’s lawyers said in a statement that the missed deadline was the result of a procedural misunderstanding about the type of response they were filing, and that the document would be filed soon.
Clinton and other defendants have also filed motions to dismiss.
The case is Trump v. Clinton, 22-cv-14102, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida.
