Judge fines Trump nearly $1M for filing 'revenge' lawsuit against Hillary Clinton

A federal judge in Florida has sanctioned former President Donald Trump and his attorney Alina Habba, ordering them to pay fines of nearly $1 million for filing what he

deemed to be a frivolous lawsuit claiming that Hillary Clinton and others involved in the Russia investigation unlawfully conspired to damage Trump's reputation. The

opinion from Judge David Middlebrooks calls Trump "a prolific and sophisticated litigant who is repeatedly using the courts to seek revenge on political adversaries."MORE:

Judge dismisses Trump's lawsuit against Hillary Clinton, calling it a 'political manifesto' "He is the mastermind of strategic abuse of the judicial process, and he cannot be

seen as a litigant blindly following the advice of a lawyer. He knew full well the impact of his actions," Middlebrooks wrote in his opinion. "As such, I find that

sanctions should be imposed upon Mr. Trump and his lead counsel, Ms. Habba," wrote the judge. Habba did not immediately return a request for comment from ABC News.

Trump sued Clinton, his 2016 presidential challenger, for allegedly "acting in concert" with top FBI leadership to invent what became known as the Russia investigation into

interference in the 2016 election. Trump had argued that the Russia probe was "prolonged and exacerbated by the presence of a small faction of Clinton loyalists who were

well-positioned within the Department of Justice." Judge Middlebrooks dismissed the lawsuit this past September. Middlebrooks' sanctions, issued late Thursday,

direct Habba and Trump to pay $938,000 to 18 defendants in the case.