Two Georgia counties sued former President Donald Trump for legal fees in response to his campaign’s failed election lawsuit against state officials, Courthouse News reports.
Atlanta-area Fulton and DeKalb Counties filed motions in court against Trump over lawsuits that named county election officials while he waged his baseless legal campaign over unfounded allegations of voter fraud.
“Given the number of failed lawsuits filed by the former President and his campaign, Petitioners apparently believed that they could filed their baseless and legally deficient actions with impunity, with no regard for the costs extracted from the taxpayers’ coffers of the consequences to the democratic foundations of our country,” Cobb County attorneys said in a complaint.
Trump sued wrong person, lawyers say:
The Cobb County motion argued that Trump erroneously sued the county’s director of registration and elections Janine Eveler.
“If you’re going to challenge an election, you’re supposed to name the county superintendent of elections,” the motion said. “And Georgia law is pretty clear that, in the case of Cobb County, that’s the Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration, that’s not the election department manager.”
“[Trump’s] claims were so bereft of factual and legal support that it cannot reasonably be believed that a court would accept them,” the motion added, noting that Trump’s suit did not show any examples of impropriety.
“Rather Petitioners offer only wild theories, facially invalid claims and questionable ‘buckets of votes,” the motion says.
DeKalb sues over “frivolous” complaint:
The DeKalb County motion said that Trump’s lawsuit “repeats unsubstantiated and frivolous claims of violations of state laws and regulations related to voter, registration, absentee ballot processing, signature matching, and improper limits on the public and election monitors during the tabulation of the votes and the recount.”
Trump’s campaign ultimately dropped the lawsuit on January 7, the day after his supporters attacked Capitol Police and overran the halls of Congress.
DeKalb County is seeking $6,105 in legal fees. Cobb County is seeking $10,875.
