Democratic National Committee v. Russian Federation

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Democratic National Committee v. Russian Federation
CourtUnited States District Court for the Southern District of New York
Full case nameDemocratic National Committee, Plaintiff, v. The Russian Federation; General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation ("GRU"); GRU operative using the pseudonym "Guccifer 2.0"; Aras Iskenerovich Agalarov, Emin Araz Agalarov, Joseph Mifsud, WikiLeaks; Julian Assange; Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.; Donald J. Trump, Jr.; Paul J. Manafort, Jr.; Roger J. Stone, Jr.; Jared C. Kushner; George Papadopoulos; Richard W. Gates, III; John Does 1-10, Defendants
DecidedJuly 30, 2019
Docket nos.1:18-cv-03501
Court membership
Judge(s) sittingJohn G. Koeltl

Democratic National Committee v. Russian Federation, et al. was a civil lawsuit filed by the

friend-of-the-court briefs expressing concern over the lawsuit's implications for freedom of the press.[2]

Judge

Russian Federation enjoys sovereign immunity.[2]

Defendants

Named as defendants in the lawsuit are the

Richard W. Gates; and unnamed defendants sued as John Does 1–10.[5] The U.S. government has concluded that the GRU, the Russian military intelligence service, was responsible for hacking into the DNC's servers in 2016 and leaking emails to WikiLeaks, which published them.[6]

Motions

A pre-motion conference was held on September 13, 2018.[1] On October 3, the DNC filed an amended complaint.[2] On December 6–7, defendants Rick Gates, George Papadopoulos, Aras and Emin Agalarov, Jared Kushner, Roger Stone, and the Trump campaign, all filed motions to dismiss the amended complaint, arguing inter alia that the plaintiff did not allege that they participated in the hacking or dissemination of the stolen information.[3] On December 7, WikiLeaks also filed a motion to dismiss the case on other grounds, notably the First Amendment and lack of jurisdiction.[4] The complaint was further amended on January 18, 2019,[5] which defendants again moved to dismiss on March 4, 2019.[6] Attorneys for WikiLeaks also filed a motion to dismiss the second amended complaint on that day.[7] Plaintiff formally opposed those motions on April 18, 2019.[8]

Dismissal

The suit was dismissed

First Amendment right to publish the information.[2] Koeltl denied the Trump campaign defendants' motion for sanctions.[7]

Commentary

The DNC did not reveal how much the lawsuit would cost.[8]

The

Committee to Re-elect the President in connection with the Watergate scandal; that suit was settled in 1974 on the day Nixon resigned from office.[6]

The suit did not name Donald Trump as a defendant. The group of defendants named in the DNC lawsuit included some people who were investigated by

planning a June 9, 2016 meeting at Trump Tower between Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer "at which Donald Trump Jr. had expected to be given damaging information" about Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.[6]

In a tweet following the decision, Trump Sr. called it "vindication & exoneration from the Russian, WikiLeaks and every other form of HOAX perpetrated by the DNC, Radical Democrats and others."[9]

See also

  • List of lawsuits involving Donald Trump

References

  1. ^ a b c Burns, Alexander; Shear, Michael D. (April 20, 2018). "Democratic Party Alleges Trump-Russia Conspiracy in New Lawsuit". New York Times.
  2. ^ a b c Klasfeld, Adam (July 30, 2019). "DNC Loses Racketeering Suit Over 2016 Election Hack". Courthouse News Service.
  3. ^ "Democrats file suit alleging Russia, Trump campaign, WikiLeaks conspired to interfere in 2016 campaign". CNN. April 21, 2018. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
  4. ^ Jurecic, Quinta (July 30, 2019). "Judge Dismisses DNC Suit Against Trump Campaign and Others". Lawfare.
  5. ^ Complaint, Democratic National Committee v. Russian Federation et al.
  6. ^ a b c d Hamburger, Tom; Helderman, Rosalind S.; Nakashima, Ellen (April 20, 2018). "Democratic Party sues Russia, Trump campaign and WikiLeaks alleging 2016 campaign conspiracy". Washington Post.
  7. ^ Re, Gregg (July 30, 2019). "Judge dismisses DNC lawsuit against Trump campaign, Russia, WikiLeaks over hacking". Fox News. Archived from the original on July 31, 2019. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
  8. ^ Mathis-Lilley, Ben (April 20, 2018). "Democrat on Internal DNC Call About Russia Lawsuit Asks Why DNC Is Spending Money to Sue Russia". Slate.
  9. ^ Judge dismisses DNC suit against Trump campaign, Russia over email hack, Josh Gerstein, Politico

External links

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