The Clintons Through Judicial Watch, Klayman filed around 18 lawsuits against the
Clinton administration, alleging ethical misconduct and criminal activity. In one case, a federal judge ruled that Clinton violated the
Privacy Act when he released personal letters between him and a female White House volunteer. The woman had appeared on national television accusing him of making improper sexual advances, and Clinton claimed that he released the letters to discredit her. The judge determined that was an act of criminal intent, but the ruling was called "inappropriate" by the appellate court. In the Clinton-era fundraising scandal known as
Chinagate, Judicial Watch was awarded nearly $1m in attorney fees against the
US Department of Commerce. in a defamation suit against
Hillary Clinton. Klayman also represented
Dolly Kyle, another woman who claimed to be a mistress of Bill Clinton, in her unsuccessful lawsuit against him. Klayman represented
Jared Paul Stern in his unsuccessful defamation lawsuit against the Clintons,
Ronald Burkle, and the
Daily News. In 2012, Klayman represented Freedom Watch in its FOIA request to obtain various federal agencies' documents. During the course of litigation, Klayman sought access to Hillary Clinton's private e-mail server, but the courts denied his request. In 2015, Klayman filed an unsuccessful
RICO lawsuit against Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and the
Clinton Foundation by alleging Hillary Clinton sold access to US government officials in return for donations to the Clinton Foundation. In the wake of the
2016 shooting of Dallas police officers, Klayman filed unsuccessful lawsuits against Hillary Clinton, Obama,
George Soros, former US Attorney General
Eric Holder,
Nation of Islam leader
Louis Farrakhan,
Al Sharpton, and some of the founders of the
Black Lives Matter movement by alleging they had incited a "race war" that led to the shooting. In 2016, Klayman, on behalf of family members of two people killed in the
2012 Benghazi attack, unsuccessfully sued Hillary Clinton for wrongful death and defamation. In 2017, Klayman circulated a petition to be appointed as a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton's involvement in the
sale of Uranium One.
Barack Obama In 2012, Klayman filed on behalf of a Florida resident an unsuccessful challenge to
Barack Obama's placement on the primary ballot and claimed the president is not a
natural-born citizen, as required by the US Constitution. He also represented the presidential candidate for the
Constitution Party and a member of the Alabama Republican Party, who alleged the
Alabama Secretary of State had a duty to investigate
Obama's eligibility. The trial court dismissed the complaint, and the
Alabama Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal. Chief Justice
Roy Moore and another justice dissented by arguing the Secretary of State had the authority to conduct such an investigation. Two other justices wrote concurring opinions that supported the dismissal and addressed the dissenting opinions. In 2013, a
citizen grand jury formed by Klayman "indicted" Obama and others of various crimes (including
involuntary manslaughter), "convicted" Obama of fraud, and alleged that he had forged his birth certificate to pass presidential eligibility requirements. On October 13, 2013, during the
US government shutdown, Klayman declared at a conservative rally in Washington, DC, "This president is not a president of We the People; he's a president of his people." He urged the crowd to begin a "second American non-violent Revolution" and demanded for Obama to "put the
Quran down... [and] figuratively come out with his hands up." Weeks later, Klayman sponsored a "Reclaim America" rally in
Lafayette Square, across from the White House, and called for
Obama's impeachment. Klayman stated that if Obama did not resign, conservative activists would meet to establish a "shadow government." Klayman had encouraged "millions to occupy Washington D.C." but the reported attendance was between 130 and 200. Klayman also sued the National Security Agency in
Klayman v. Obama. In 2013, Klayman sued the Obama administration over the collection of phone records by the
National Security Agency (NSA). A federal judge agreed with Klayman that the surveillance program was likely unconstitutional but stayed an injunction pending an appeal by the US government. The
ACLU and US Senator
Rand Paul had filed similar cases, but Klayman's was the only one to gain a favorable court ruling. Later in 2015, the district court enjoined the NSA from collecting data about Klayman's client, a California lawyer who had recently been added to the lawsuit, but the D.C. Circuit court stayed enforcement of that injunction. In 2017, the district court dismissed the lawsuit and noted, "Klayman accused this Court of being coopted by the so called 'Deep State' into ruling against him. Unfortunately for plaintiffs, such baseless accusations are no substitute for a well-pleaded complaint." Klayman had several other dismissed suits against Obama, including a lawsuit alleging that the Obama administration had secretly allowed the
Ebola virus to enter the US to harm people of the "Caucasian race and Jewish-Christian religion," a suit to block actions taken by the Obama administration regarding gun control, a lawsuit to block the
Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015, and a suit against Obama and others for inciting
airport protests at the
Los Angeles International Airport. Serving as an attorney for
Jerome Corsi, Klayman falsely asserted during a March 2019
CNN interview that Obama's birth certificate "uses the word 'African-American' in 1961."
Joe and Hunter Biden In 2019, Klayman unsuccessfully sued
Joe Biden,
Hunter Biden, the Biden 2020 campaign, and Biden 2020 deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield, having alleged that they pressured
YouTube to ban his channel, which was suspended for two days. Also in 2019, Klayman vowed to convene a citizen grand jury to "indict" Obama's vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden for their involvement with
Burisma Holdings. In 2023, Klayman's citizen grand jury "convicted" then-President Biden, his son Hunter, and President Biden's brother James Biden.
Other legal actions filed by Klayman Klayman has brought a number of lawsuits on behalf of conservative causes or against individuals associated with the
Democratic Party. Many of the cases have been dismissed, including lawsuits against
Facebook seeking $1 billion for not responding quickly enough to calls to take down an anti-Israel "Third
Intifada" page and against the
Republican National Committee alleging that it conspired to deprive
Donald Trump from being awarded the delegates that he had won in the
2016 Republican Party primary for Florida. In November 2018, Klayman sued
Brenda Snipes, the supervisor of elections for Broward County, Florida, over the 2018 election results. In September 2020, Klayman sued
Michael Bloomberg and others over Bloomberg's efforts to restore the voting rights of
Florida felons who had lost the right to vote. In January 2021, Klayman filed suit against
Google,
Apple, and
Amazon's Web Services because they had prevented
Parler from using their services. In 2022, Klayman sued the
PGA Tour, claiming its suspension of players who participate in
LIV Golf's tournaments violates antitrust laws. Klayman filed an unsuccessful suit to remove special counsel
Robert Mueller from the Justice Department's investigation into
Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections and convened a
citizen grand jury that "indicted" Mueller. Klayman has also filed a complaint to the
Federal Communications Commission complaint that stating that CNN had incited the "assassination of the elected President and Vice President, and the Speaker of the House." Klayman has also brought a number of legal actions about his personal life. In 1998, Klayman sued his mother for $50,000 for the reimbursement for medical care provided to his maternal grandmother. In 2013, Klayman defended his actions in an interview with
ABC News and said that it was "essentially a case against my stepfather" and that he named his mother "because legally she was next of kin." Klayman also unsuccessfully sued the
City Pages and
Phoenix New Times newspapers for
defamation after they reported on a custody dispute between Klayman and his ex-wife. In 2021, Klayman sued
Roger Stone for defamation over Stone's comments on social media about Klayman's divorce proceedings. Klayman has also sued the group that he founded,
Judicial Watch, in 2012. Klayman argued that a Judicial Watch employee falsely told
Orly Taitz that Klayman had been convicted of not paying child support. In reality, Klayman had been indicted of failing to pay child support, but the charges were later dismissed. Taitz published the Judicial Watch employee's comment on her website. Klayman sued Judicial Watch for defamation, and in 2014, a federal jury awarded Klayman $156,000 in compensatory damages and $25,000 in punitive damages. In 2019, however, Judicial Watch obtained a $2.3 million verdict against Klayman in a trademark dispute.
Lawsuits representing others 2000s Klayman represented
José Basulto of the Cuban exile organization
Brothers to the Rescue, and won a $1.7 million judgment against
Fidel Castro in 2005. The Cuban government had shot down two planes, killing all four passengers aboard, all of whom were colleagues of Basulto. A third plane, flown by Basulto, survived the incident. All the planes were determined to have been in
international waters.
2010s Klayman represented volunteer 9/11 firefighter Vincent Forras in a lawsuit against
Feisal Abdul Rauf to prevent the building of the so-called
Ground Zero mosque. In the motion to dismiss, Rauf's attorney called Klayman an "infamous publicity hound" and wrote that Forras "trades in his well deserved laurels for fifteen minutes of fame as a nationally recognized bigot." Klayman and Forras sought sanctions, but the court denied that request and dismissed the suit. Klayman filed an unsuccessful lawsuit on behalf of then-Phoenix Sheriff
Joe Arpaio that alleged that the Obama administration's actions on federal immigration policy had not been authorized by Congress. Klayman represented five former government employees in an unsuccessful lawsuit against the
NSA, the
Department of Justice, and employees of those agencies for alleged retaliation regarding their complaints about the
Trailblazer Project. Klayman represented
Dennis L. Montgomery in his unsuccessful request to intervene in the contempt proceedings against Arpaio in a lawsuit that initially alleged
Maricopa County to have engaged in impermissible racial profiling but later revealed that Arpaio had allegedly hired Montgomery to
investigate the DOJ. In 2017, Montgomery and Klayman jointly sued
James Comey and other federal government officials by alleging a coverup of evidence that Montgomery claimed to show the existence of widespread illegal surveillance by the federal government. The suit was unsuccessful. Klayman did not formally represent Bundy at his criminal trial but conferred with Bundy and his family members. The judge dismissed the case against Bundy, but the government appealed the dismissal, and Klayman represented Bundy on his successful appeal. Following the dismissal of the federal criminal charges against Bundy, Klayman represented Bundy as he unsuccessfully sued in state court for a declaration that the federal government cannot own land in Nevada. Klayman also filed an unsuccessful lawsuit against the federal government on behalf of two of Bundy's codefendants who had been found not guilty. Klayman filed a similar but unsuccessful lawsuit on behalf of Bundy's son, Ryan. Another Bundy co-defendant, Peter Santilli, filed a complaint in January 2019 with the D.C. Bar that alleged that Klayman's efforts during the Bundy case had been lacking. In turn, Klayman unsuccessfully sued Santilli for defamation. Klayman filed an unsuccessful suit on behalf of Kiara Robles, who alleged her First Amendment rights were violated when she was attacked during the
2017 Berkeley protests. The court revoked Klayman's
pro hac vice status for professional misconduct, which ended Klayman's ability to represent her in that court; the courts ultimately dismissed most of her suit. Klayman, on behalf of former Texas DPS Officer Danny Shaw Jr., filed an unsuccessful lawsuit alleging that the Government of Mexico attempted to "murder" Shaw pursuant to an "anti-American policy" and animosity towards then presidential candidate
Donald J. Trump. Klayman, on behalf of Freedom Watch and later also
Laura Loomer, filed an unsuccessful lawsuit against Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Apple, alleging that the companies conspired to censor conservative content. In 2019, Klayman assisted Loomer with an unsuccessful lawsuit against U.S. Representative
Rashida Tlaib which alleged that Tlaib had "violently grabbed" Loomer's cellphone. Klayman filed a request for an investigation into the Special Counsel's tactics on behalf of
Jerome Corsi, who was a subject of the investigation of 2016 presidential election; Klayman also represented Corsi in an unsuccessful lawsuit alleging Mueller and other government actors violated his constitutional rights and leaked grand jury secrets. In addition, Klayman represented Corsi's stepson while he testified before a federal grand jury about his stepfather.
Schaeffer Cox retained Klayman to help with a FOIA request for law enforcement records in his criminal case.
2020s Klayman filed a suit on behalf of himself, Freedom Watch, and a Dallas-area photography studio which alleged that the Chinese government created the
coronavirus disease as a
biological weapon. Klayman also represented
Ben Stein in a lawsuit that alleged that California's shelter-in-place order in response to the pandemic was illegal. Klayman further requested that the
International Criminal Court open an inquiry to investigate the virus's origins. In addition, Klayman filed an unsuccessful defamation lawsuit against CNN over its coverage of these lawsuits. Klayman filed a lawsuit on behalf of
Joel Gilbert's production company that alleged breach of contract after a movie theater canceled Gilbert's private screening of his film,
The Trayvon Hoax. Klayman filed a lawsuit on behalf of seven former Philadelphia police officers which alleged that they were wrongfully fired following discovery of their racist comments. Klayman filed an unsuccessful lawsuit on behalf of Siaka Massaquoi that alleged that the
FBI illegally searched Massaquoi's house following the
2021 United States Capitol attack. Klayman filed a lawsuit on behalf of ROKiT over a sponsorship dispute with
Williams Racing. Klayman filed on behalf of a self-published author a lawsuit that alleged
Netflix and others stole his idea for the 2021 film
Don't Look Up.
Defamation lawsuits In addition to defamation lawsuits filed on his own behalf or against the Clintons, Klayman also has litigated defamation lawsuits on behalf of Forras,
Joseph Farah,
Bradlee Dean, Arpaio, Montgomery, Loomer, Corsi,
Roy Moore, Laurie Luhn, Jackie Beard Robinson,
George Zimmerman, Demetrick Pennie, None of Klayman's efforts have yet been successful. ==References==