DNC suit against Trump ’16 over Russia quashed

NEW YORK — Democrats’ claims that President Donald Trump’s campaign conspired with Russia were tossed out Tuesday by a judge, who noted that there were no allegations that anyone from the campaign had stolen documents from the Democratic National Committee.

The lawsuit, brought by the committee, alleged that Trump’s campaign conspired with Russia, Wikileaks, Trump’s son-in-law and others. Trump’s campaign and lawyers for the other defendants denied the allegations.

U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl said Russia was “undoubtably” the primary wrongdoer in the alleged criminal enterprise, but the country can’t be sued in U.S. courts except in special circumstances not present in this case.

Meanwhile, he said, the actions of the Trump campaign and others were protected by the First Amendment.

“In sum, the DNC does not allege any facts to show plausibly that any of the defendants, other than the Russian Federation, had any role in hacking the DNC’S computers or stealing its information,” Koeltl wrote. “It attributes that conduct only to the Russian Federation.

“And the DNC does not dispute that the documents were of public importance. Therefore, the First Amendment protects the publication of those stolen documents,” the judge said.

The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the American Civil Liberties Union had submitted written arguments supporting defendant Wikileaks’ request that the lawsuit be tossed.