In a brief but biting order, a federal judge in Oklahoma dismissed a defamation lawsuit Carter Page brought against the Democratic National Committee and its lawyers related to the involvement of the DNC’s law firm in funding the Trump-Russia dossier.
Chief Judge Joe Heaton of the Western District of Oklahoma, who is a George W. Bush appointee, said the court lacked jurisdiction over the case, given that the defendants have no relationship to Oklahoma, nor did their alleged actions.
“Plaintiff has offered nothing to suggest that the individual defendants are domiciled in Oklahoma and it appears undisputed that none of them are,” Heaton said, before critiquing Page’s arguments that the DNC has a relationship to Oklahoma, via its affiliate, the Oklahoma state Democratic Party.
“The DNC is a national organization with local affiliates throughout the United States. It cannot be ‘at home’ in every state,” the judge said.
In filing the lawsuit pro se, meaning that it was filed by Page himself rather than by lawyers on his behalf, Page pointed to an LLC in Oklahoma where he is a managing partner to explain why he brought the case in Oklahoma.
Page told Oklahoma City’s News 9 that, through the business, he had “longstanding Oklahoma ties,” despite not having a residence there, and even called Oklahoma “his main home.”
The judge on Thursday rejected that argument for jurisdiction as well.
“Plaintiff alleges that he owns a corporation based in Oklahoma, but there is no plausible basis alleged for concluding that defendants alleged actions were somehow directed at that corporation or plaintiff’s interest in it, or that defendants even knew of its existence,” the order said.
Read the order below:
Carter Page, or as most people know him, Amateur Hour.
womp womp…
I did not know he was a “Dr.”
Wiki…
Lawyering r hard.
It is doubtful that this will wipe the sh_t eating grin off of his face.