The DNC hit President Trump’s cronies and the Russian government with a lawsuit on Friday.
The Democratic National Committee hit President Trump’s cronies and the Russian government with a lawsuit on Friday alleging they conspired to illegally influence the 2016 election.
The DNC — which names a host of Trump relatives and pals as defendants, including his son, Donald Trump Jr., son-in-law Jared Kushner, former campaign manager Paul Manafort and adviser Roger Stone — charges that Russia hacked the Dems’ servers to slime Hillary Clinton and bolster Trump’s campaign.
“In the run-up to the 2016 election, Russia mounted a brazen attack on American Democracy,” says the lawsuit, filed in Manhattan Federal Court. “The opening salvo was a cyberattack on the DNC, carried out on American soil.”
The DNC charges that “in the Trump campaign, Russia found a willing and active partner in this effort.”
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“Through multiple meetings, emails, and other communications, these Russian agents made clear that their government supported Trump and was prepared to use stolen emails and other information to damage his opponent and the Democratic Party.”
The legal volley follows the playbook used by the Democratic Party in the Watergate scandal.
The DNC sued then-President Nixon’s reelection committee in 1972 — seeking $1 million in damages for the burglary at Democratic headquarters in the Watergate building.
The lawsuit drew fire from Nixon’s allies but it ultimately prevailed, resulting in a $750,000 settlement that was reached on the day Nixon left office in 1974.
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Former Nixon lawyer John Dean told the Daily News the suit played no direct role in Nixon’s resignation.
“But it was a major nuisance for Nixon and the Democrats made a lot of money,” Dean added.
The recent civil filing claims that the Russian agents who infiltrated the DNC’s info passed it to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange — who then dumped it publicly. Assange, as well as the hacker who claimed responsibility for the cyberattack, Guccifer 2.0, are also named as defendants.
The suit pins a bullseye on Kushner, claiming he was a key figure in the conspiracy.
Kushner led the Trump campaign’s data operation and hired the social media and analytic firm Cambridge Analytica, the suit says.
Cambridge Analytica is now under investigation for improperly accessing the personal data of at least 50 million Facebook users to create complex algorithms that may have influenced American voters.
The suit also cites the now-infamous June 2016 sitdown where Trump Jr., one-time campaign manager Manafort and Kushner allegedly met with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya as alleged proof of a conspiracy.
The New York Times first reported that Trump’s son was promised damaging info on his dad’s political opponent prior to the meeting.
Manafort, who now faces federal charges for financial crimes, is also being investigated for allegedly colluding with the Russian government, according to recent court papers.
“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.
He called it an “act of unprecedented treachery.”
With News Wire Services
