On Friday, April 20, 2019, the Democratic National Committee (the DNC) filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the Russian government, the Trump campaign and the WikiLeaks organization for a far-reaching conspiracy to disrupt the 2016 campaign and elect Donald Trump.
Trump was all a-tweeter.
This was the Republican response, as reported by the New York Times.
“Brad Parscale, the campaign manager for Mr. Trump's 2020 re-election bid, called the D.N.C. allegations a "sham lawsuit about a bogus Russian collusion claim filed by a desperate, dysfunctional and nearly insolvent Democratic Party."
In a statement, Mr. Parscale accused Democrats of filing the lawsuit to drum up donations for the party. "They've sunk to a new low to raise money," Mr. Parscale said."
They are hoping we forget history.
Though Watergate was a physical crime - a break-in- and the break-in attack on the DNC was a cyber crime, the parallels between these crimes perpetrated to elect a Republican President continue to unfold. This lawsuit is part of that process.
On 21 June 1972, 5 days after the Watergate break in, then DNC chairman, announced a $1m lawsuit against the Committee for the Re-Election of the President?
The lawsuit, which on the day of Nixon's resignation resulted in a payment of $775,000 to the DNC was part of the process which ultimate brought the President down.
Let Rachel Maddow explain what happened then and what is happening now. You may find your jaw dropping.
Here is the lawsuit itself. https://www.lawfareblog.com/document-dnc-sues-russ...
The Watergate-related lawsuit was largely about publicity and keeping the case in the public eye. This DNC lawsuit also helps keeps the seriousness of the crimes committed in public view but it is likely about Discovery too.
Discovery, in the law of the United States and other countries, is a pre-trial procedure in a lawsuit in which each party, through the law of civil procedure, can obtain evidence from the other party or parties by means of discovery devices such as a request for answers to interrogatories, request for production of ...(Wikipedia).
This means that potentially the DNC lawsuit could force Trump staffers to answer questions under oath and evidence gathered could be made public in court filings and at a trial. This is in contrast to information by Special Counsel Mueller's probe which might remain secret.
There are also multiple reasons for this case to be filed in the Southern District Court. The likely judge is a former Watergate prosecutor.
Stay tuned. And keep smiling, because this lawsuit is no joke.
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April 22, 2018