Judge tosses suit alleging Trump campaign conspired with Russians in hack: report

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/07/04/judge-tosses-suit-alleging-trump-campaign-conspired-with-russians-in-hack-report.html
Published: Jul 4, 2018
Author: Lukas Mikelionis
Post Date: 2018-07-04 10:34:24 by Justified
Views: 2041

A federal judge on Tuesday tossed a lawsuit claiming that the Trump campaign and former adviser Roger Stone colluded with WikiLeaks and the Russian government to publish hacked Democratic National Committee emails during the presidential election.

U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Huvelle said in a ruling that the allegations of conspiracy were insubstantial to proceed in a court, Politico reported.

"The Trump Campaign’s efforts to elect President Trump in D.C. are not suit-related contacts for those efforts did not involve acts taken in furtherance of the conspiracies to disseminate emails that harmed plaintiffs," wrote the Clinton-appointed judge. "Campaign meetings, canvassing voters, and other regular business activities of a political campaign do not constitute activities related to the conspiracies alleged in the complaint.”

She noted that her ruling is based on the technicalities of the lawsuit and doesn’t take a position on whether the Trump campaign and its officials actually conspired with the Russians during the election.

"It bears emphasizing that this Court’s ruling is not based on a finding that there was no collusion between defendants and Russia during the 2016 presidential election," Huvelle wrote. "This is the wrong forum for plaintiffs’ lawsuit. The Court takes no position on the merits of plaintiffs’ claims."

The lawsuit was brought by two DNC donors, Roy Cockrum and Eric Schoenberg, and former DNC staffer Scott Comer, who alleged that the publication of the emails violated their privacy and that the Trump campaign and Stone engaged in an illicit activity, according to Politico.

The DNC itself wasn’t part of the suit, though it had brought a separate lawsuit back in April, accusing top Trump campaign officials, including Trump's son Donald Jr. and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner of colluding with the Russians.

Stone’s role in WikiLeaks activities raised concerns after the revelations that he reportedly exchanged messages with both WikiLeaks and Guccifer 2.0 – a social media account that U.S. intelligence agencies believe was part of the “Russian military intelligence” effort to spread the hacked emails, The Daily Beast reported.

Despite the setback, the group that filed the lawsuit, Protect Democracy, said it will refile the case elsewhere.

"While we are disappointed in and respectfully disagree with today’s decision from the District Court to dismiss this case on the grounds that it does not belong in Washington, D.C., this case is far from over," Protect Democracy's Ian Bassin said in a statement to Politico. "It is clear that the Court recognizes that there is sufficient evidence to suggest a conspiracy between the Trump Campaign and the Kremlin, but believes this case belongs in a different court. What today’s decision indicates is that the merits of this case will proceed somewhere,” he added.

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#1: Justified    To: All (#0)

This has Alinsky fingerprints all over it. Harass and obstruct the other side from getting anything done.

Justified posted on 2018-07-04 10:36:50   Reply   Private Reply


#2: misterwhite    To: Justified (#1)

Harass and obstruct the other side from getting anything done.

Since they can't possibly expect to win these suits, that's all it is.

So I propose a new law: Trump should be able to extend his Presidential term by a period of time equal to the time taken up by these investigations and lawsuits.

If the investigations are fruitful, certainly he'll be impeached and the time extension is moot. But if these investigations are merely fishing expeditions and meant to harass, well, this law would negate that.

The point being, the losing side in an election should not be able to then harass and obstruct the winning side from carrying out the agenda approved by the majority of the people who elected them.

Sarah Palin was diven out of office because of the massive number of frivolous ethics lawsuits filed against her.

misterwhite posted on 2018-07-04 11:03:03   Reply   Private Reply


#3: VxH    To: Justified (#1)

This has Alinsky fingerprints all over it.

Whose fingerprints were on the "play a larger role in the Republican party" plastic wrap the FB Datapoint Candidate got packaged in?

VxH posted on 2018-07-04 13:51:07   Reply   Private Reply


#4: Justified    To: VxH (#3)

No shit Clintons said come on in. Never realizing what they were up against.

Obummer pissed off Trump and Trump just about removed all Obamas record in one freaking year. There is even a video where Obama screwed up pissed off Trump.

There is an old saying. You will know me by my deeds. Trump has done more in 1 year than the last 4 presidents combined and it was for the good of the middleclass. I guess you object to this?

Trump will probably go down as the greatest American President in history if he keeps up what he has been doing.

Justified posted on 2018-07-04 14:16:28   Reply   Private Reply