The Democratic National Committee today filed a lawsuit against the Russian government, Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, and WikiLeaks, alleging the Trump campaign ‘gleefully welcomed Russia’s help.’ Court papers describe a far-reaching conspiracy to disrupt the 2016 presidential campaign, and throw the election for Donald Trump through a complex and well-funded global disinformation campaign.
Here are the primary source documents.
Suing a foreign country presents a number of legal challenges for the Democrats, partly because other nations have immunity from most U.S. lawsuits.
Part of the thinking here may be to force the government to disclose evidence, via the legal discovery process.
From reporters Tom Hamburger, Rosalind S. Helderman and Ellen Nakashima in the Washington Post:
The complaint, filed in federal district court in Manhattan, alleges that top Trump campaign officials conspired with the Russian government and its military spy agency to hurt Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and help Trump by hacking the computer networks of the Democratic Party and disseminating stolen material found there.
“During the 2016 presidential campaign, Russia launched an all-out assault on our democracy, and it found a willing and active partner in Donald Trump’s campaign,” DNC Chairman Tom Perez said in a statement.
“This constituted an act of unprecedented treachery: the campaign of a nominee for President of the United States in league with a hostile foreign power to bolster its own chance to win the presidency,” he said.
The case asserts that the Russian hacking campaign — combined with Trump associates’ contacts with Russia and the campaign’s public cheerleading of the hacks — amounted to an illegal conspiracy to interfere in the election that caused serious damage to the Democratic Party.
"Document: DNC Sues Russia, Trump Campaign and WikiLeaks for Election Interference," the latest from Matthew Kahn: https://t.co/1llBqzJ7yu
— Lawfare (@lawfareblog) April 20, 2018
[Silently hopes to self the DNC lawsuit will be more competently managed than the Fusion oppo research.]
[Oh did I say that out loud?]
— emptywheel (@emptywheel) April 20, 2018
Should someone tell the DNC lawyers they forgot to plead that the DNC computers meet the 1030(e)(1) definition? pic.twitter.com/CJC4RQWECx
— x="⚖??✨"}alert(1);if(0){// (@Esquiring) April 20, 2018
MORE: Lawsuit alleges Trump campaign and Russian agents agreed to promote Trump's candidacy through illegal meanshttps://t.co/mM54YebBkM
— Reuters Politics (@ReutersPolitics) April 20, 2018
DNC suit is against: Russian Federation, GRU, Guccifer 2.0, Aras & Emin Agalarov, Joseph Mifsud, WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, Donald J. Trump for President, Donald Trump Jr., Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, Jared Kushner, George Papadopoulos, & Richard Gates https://t.co/U2QI6aoGlb
— Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) April 20, 2018