Democratic Party sues Trump, Russia, WikiLeaks over 2016 email hack
WASHINGTON — Taking a page from its response to the
Watergate break-in, the Democratic National Committee filed suit on Friday against President Donald Trump's campaign, the Russian government and WikiLeaks for allegedly engaging in a conspiracy to damage the Democratic Party during the 2016 presidential race.
The DNC is seeking recompense for what it says was millions of dollars in damages from Russia’s
hacking of its internal emails, which were then published by
WikiLeaks, with the
encouragement of then-candidate Trump and his campaign.
The civil complaint, filed in federal district court in Manhattan on Friday, is unrelated to the criminal investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller, as well as congressional investigations into Russian meddling.
The DNC has retained the law firm Cohen-Milstein, which has been involved in settlements for large data breaches in the past, including one against health insurer Anthem, which affected 80 million people.
The DNC's 66-page complaint lays out in the detailed alleged conspiracy among Trump, WikiLeaks and hackers working for the Russian government. “Each defendant knowingly aided, abetted, encouraged, induced, instigated, contributed and assisted” the hack and subsequent publication of the emails, the complaint alleges.
Foreign governments are generally immune from U.S. prosecution, but the DNC claims this suit falls into one of the exemptions to that law, since the hack amounted to the Russian government trespassing on the committee's private property.
More: Democratic Party sues Trump, Russia, WikiLeaks over 2016 email hack
Great move by the DNC. What do you think?