DNC Sues Trump Campaign, Wikileaks Over Russia Collusion Conspiracy
Reprinted with permission from Shareblue.com
While Trump continues to Tweet-rage that the investigation into his campaign’s collusion with Russia is a “witch hunt” and a “hoax,” the Democratic Party is fighting back in a big, multimillion dollar way.
On Friday, the Democratic National Committee filed a lawsuit against Trump’s campaign, Russia, and WikiLeaks for conspiring to fix the 2016 election “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,” the Washington Post reports.
The suit doesn’t name Donald Trump personally, but it does target several top officials from his campaign, including Paul Manafort, his deputy Rick Gates, and foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos, all of whom have been indicted as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
Papadopoulos and Gates have both pleaded guilty and are now cooperating with Mueller’s investigation.
The suit also names Trump’s longtime confidante Roger Stone, who was confirmed in March to have communicated with Russia’s military intelligence during the election.
DNC chairman Tom Perez issued a blistering statement, condemning Russia, the Trump campaign, and Trump himself.
“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,” Perez said. He called the collusion “an act of unprecedented treachery.”
The Washington Post notes that the lawsuit is not entirely unprecedented: “In 1972, the DNC filed suit against former president Richard Nixon’s reelection committee seeking $1 million in damages for the break-in at Democratic headquarters in the Watergate building.”
Trump’s team — including his latest hire, Rudy Giuliani — continue to insist that Mueller’s investigation should be wrapping up soon. But with this lawsuit, the team has a whole new set of problems that aren’t going away any time soon.
