Democrats Lose Trump-Campaign Russia-Conspiracy Lawsuit
- DNC alleged ‘brazen attack’ on democracy with hacked emails
- Narrow ruling stresses that Russia can’t be sued in the U.S.
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Donald Trump scored a win Tuesday when a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by the Democratic National Committee claiming his presidential campaign conspired with Russia and WikiLeaks to hack the DNC’s emails in the run-up to the 2016 election.
The defendants violated U.S. racketeering, computer fraud and other laws in a “brazen attack on American democracy,” according to the suit. In tossing it, U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl in Manhattan based his ruling about Russia largely on a single legal issue -- that while the “primary wrongdoer” in the alleged criminal enterprise was the Russian Federation, under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act it can’t be sued in the U.S., just as the U.S. generally can’t be sued abroad.