THE Democratic National Committee (DNC) is suing Donald Trump’s campaign, his son, his son-in-law, the Russian Federation and WikiLeaks, claiming they conspired to help Trump win the 2016 US presidential election.
The DNC filed the lawsuit yesterday in the federal court in Manhattan. It seeks unspecified damages and an order to stop further interference with their IT systems.
The lawsuit claimed Trump and his associates had relationships with Russia that enabled the creation of a Trump-Russia conspiracy.
The DNC said Russia “mounted a brazen attack on American democracy”, beginning with a cyber attack on its computers. It said the hack penetrated DNC computers and phone systems and extracted tens of thousands of documents and emails.
Trump has said repeatedly there was no collusion between his campaign and Russia.
DNC chairman Tom Perez said in a statement: “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.”
He called it an “act of unprecedented treachery”.
The lawsuit also accuses Donald Trump Jr of secretly communicating with WikiLeaks, saying the pres-ident’s son was offered a password to an anti-Trump lawsuit in one exchange.
The lawsuit blames the president too, saying he praised the illegal dissemination of DNC documents throughout the autumn of 2016, making it a central theme of his speeches. It also says said Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner was part of the conspiracy as a senior adviser and key decision-maker in the campaign.
It said he began in June 2016 to control all campaign data-driven efforts including hiring Cambridge Analytica, the controversial data firm.
The lawsuit said the conspiracy “inflicted profound damage upon the DNC”, and added: “The conspiracy constituted an act of previously unimaginable treachery: the campaign of the presidential nominee of a major party in league with a hostile foreign power to bolster its own chance to win the presidency.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here