Donald Trump legal case against former MI6 officer’s company to start

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The first hearing in Donald Trump’s legal claim against a former MI6 officer’s intelligence consultancy is set to begin at the High Court.

The former US president is bringing a data protection claim against Orbis Business Intelligence which was founded by Christopher Steele, who previously ran the Secret Intelligence Service’s Russia desk.

Mr Steele was the author of the so-called Steele dossier, which included allegations that Mr Trump had been “compromised” by the Russian security service, the FSB.

The dossier, leaked to BuzzFeed in 2017, also alleged that Mr Putin “supported and directed” an operation to “cultivate” Mr Trump as a presidential candidate for “at least five years”.

It also alleged that Mr Trump had taken part in “perverted sexual acts which have been arranged/monitored by the FSB”.

Mr Trump denied the claims.

The hearing in London, before Mrs Justice Steyn, is set to begin at 10.30am.

Mr Steele and Orbis Business Intelligence were previously sued for libel by Russian national Aleksej Gubarev over the publication of the dossier, claiming they were legally responsible for BuzzFeed publishing the dossier.

However, in a judgment in October 2020, Lord Justice Warby dismissed the claim.