Democrats sue over alleged Russian role in 2016 election

THE Democratic Party last night launched a lawsuit against Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign and the Russian government, accusing them of conspiracy.

Republicans dismissed the new legal case as an empty political “stunt” ahead of midterm congressional elections in November.

The 66-page complaint, filed in a New York court, contained no new evidence and was a compilation of information already in the public domain.

Mr Trump has repeatedly said there was no collusion between his campaign and Russia, saying he was a victim of a “witch hunt” led by Democrats.

Those named as defendants in the complaint included the president’s son Donald Trump Jr, Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, Paul Manafort, his former campaign chairman, Roger Stone and George Papadopoulos, campaign associates, and Julian Assange, the Wikileaks founder. Mr Trump himself was not named as a defendant.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is seeking millions of dollars in compensation over the hacking of its computers by Russian intelligence agencies during the campaign, arguing that all the defendants were involved in a conspiracy and therefore liable.

Its complaint said: “The conspiracy constituted an act of previously unimaginable treachery. The Trump campaign and its agents gleefully welcomed Russia’s help.”

Tom Perez, the DNC chairman, said: “Russia launched an all-out assault on our democracy and it found a willing partner in Donald Trump’s campaign.”

The complaint argued Russia did not have sovereign immunity because it had “trespassed on to the DNC’S private servers in order to steal trade secrets and commit economic espionage”.