Now that the presidential election is narrowed down to Secretary Clinton and Former New Jersey Generals owner Donald Trump, it’s time we look in on how often these two public figures land themselves in court. We know Clinton faces an inquiry from Congressman Trey Gowdy, who resembles less a lawmaker than a rejected design for a Fifth Element villain into whether or not she ordered Navy Seals to drop exploding email servers on Benghazi or some such. We also know that Trump is facing a serious show trial investigation into his “Trump University” real estate seminar series over the dire need to protect people who salivate and throw money when they hear the phrase, “but wait… there’s more!” But the real action is in the often pro se, rarely colorable claims brought against these two every year.
Tom Fontaine of the Tribune-Review has a delightful crash course on the lawsuits each candidate has to deal with:
Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has been named as a defendant in 19 lawsuits and a respondent in two others since announcing his candidacy in June. People named him in about four lawsuits a year on average in the 32 years before that, records show.
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And if you think dealing with four lawsuits a year sounds unpleasant…
Democratic front-runner Clinton has been a defendant or respondent in 65 lawsuits since entering the race 13 months ago, records show. Plaintiffs named the former first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of State in about 38 lawsuits a year from 1992 through 2014.
Of course, many of the lawsuits each candidate faces are downright nutty. For example:
No one has gone after Trump for taking a spill outside the Midtown skyscraper, but one lawsuit filed in March accused Trump of stuffing a Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket over a man’s head in Philadelphia before he assaulted and berated the man.
“Donald Trump punched me in my tooth,” wrote the plaintiff, listed as G.B. Sanders of 1200 N. Broad St., whose suit was dismissed after 13 days because he didn’t pay filing fees amounting to $400. Sanders never received the judge’s order in the mail because he provided a bad address. The address is a Philadelphia KFC restaurant.
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Probably not the Sanders v. Trump matchup people were hoping for, but the complaint is still an entertaining slice of prosanity.
Another suit detailed in the story alleges that Trump is an ISIS plant seeking to undermine the U.S. government. Ted Cruz is the plaintiff on that one, but we’re assuming it’s not the real Ted Cruz. I mean… probably not.
But the primary mover and shaker in this game is one man with a whole lot of time on his hands:
Frederick H. Banks, 48, of the South Side has filed hundreds of federal complaints since 2004. He is in federal prison in Oklahoma on charges that he harassed one of the FBI agents who investigated him on fraud charges that sent him to prison for a decade.
Banks filed 31 of the 65 lawsuits that have been brought against Clinton since she entered the presidential race and four of the 21 lawsuits against Trump. In some cases, Banks sued both of them in the same complaint, along with others such as President Obama and Pope Francis.
The primary problem Banks has with the various public figures he sues is that he, well, to quote from one recent complaint:
…believes that he, and others, are subject to electronic surveillance and harassment conducted via ‘voice-to-skull’ technology as part of a ‘telepathic behavior modification’ program run by the Central Intelligence Agency.
Look, considering what we know about the NSA these days, he may be on to something. His most recent complaint against Trump, Obama, the CIA, and a bunch of other folks is in front of poor Judge Preska, who I’m sure is super excited to have to listen to this claptrap.
The moral of this whole story is, of course, it’s actually easier to run the USFL into the ground than to be a former Secretary of State. Maybe Donald Trump should cut his losses and get out while the getting’s good.
Presidential candidates no strangers to odd legal claims [Tribune-Review (Pittsburgh)]