Russia's president Vladimir Putin with President Donald Trump on November 11, 2017. Metzel Mikhail/TASS via ZUMA Press
The Democratic National Committee on Friday sued the Trump campaign, the Russian government, WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, Roger Stone, Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, George Papadopoulos and Russian oligarch Aras Agalarov, his son Emin and others, alleging they conspired to disrupt the 2016 election.
The lawsuit charges that after Russian intelligence agents hacked into the DNC’s computers, the Trump campaign became “a willing and active partner.” In essence, the Democrats say that there is already enough public information to conclude that the Trump campaign and Russia conspired to use hacked emails to help defeat Hillary Clinton.
The suit, filed in federal court in New York, charges that the Trump campaign solicited Russia’s aid “and maintained secret communications with individuals tied to the Russian government.” The campaign and top Trump advisers “formed an agreement” with Russian agents to promote Trump’s candidacy, the Democrats say.
As Russia used WikiLeaks to strategically release stolen information, “Trump openly praised the illegal disseminations and encouraged Russia to continue its violations of US law through its ongoing hacking campaign against the Democratic party,” the complaint says.
The suit says the Trump campaign’s conduct was “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.”
The DNC says the hacking required Democrats to spend more than $1 million on repairs and cybersecurity fixes. The party says it suffered “a dramatic drop in donations” and diminished job performance from employees, who faced death threats and other harassment after their personal information was exposed.
“I hope all your children get raped and murdered,” one message to a DNC employee said. “I hope your family knows nothing but suffering, torture and death.”
The suit seeks damages, an injunction preventing the defendants from future election-related hacking and distribution of stolen information, and a declaration from the court that the defendants “conspired to and did engage in a common scheme to hack Democratic computers, use “stolen information to impact the 2016 election for their own gain.”
This story has been updated.
Read the lawsuit:
