The Daily Fuckup

Milwaukee County officials on April 8, 2021, asked a federal judge to make Donald Trump and his lawyers pay about $145,000 in legal fees tied to the failed Wisconsin election lawsuit. George L. Christenson, the county clerk, and Julietta Henry, the county elections director, filed the motion in support of the broader fee request already made by Gov. Tony Evers and other defendants.

The filing said the county had to defend against claims that lacked any real factual or legal foundation and asked the court to impose fees under federal sanctions rules and its inherent authority. It also argued that Trump and his attorneys should be responsible for the costs of what the county described as needless litigation.

The underlying federal case had already moved quickly by that point. Trump filed the challenge in December 2020, a judge dismissed it days later, and the Wisconsin Supreme Court later declined to take it up. The April 8 motion did not reopen the merits of the case; it sought to shift the cost of defending it.

Christenson and Henry said the lawsuit forced county lawyers into an expedited response and multiple rounds of briefing. Their motion asked the court to hold Trump and his legal team jointly responsible for the bill. The judge had not yet ruled on the request.