U.S. Judge Throws Out DNC Case vs. Trump and WikiLeaks, Opines Suit ‘Entirely Divorced’ from Facts
July 31, 2019(EIRNS)—Federal Judge John Koeltl of the Southern District of New York, yesterday dismissed a lawsuit brought last year by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) against Donald Trump, the 2016 Trump campaign, WikiLeaks and the Russian government for allegedly conspiring with Russia to disrupt the 2016 campaign. Note that Judge Koeltl dismissed the case “with prejudice,” meaning it cannot be brought up again.
President Trump tweeted last night that Judge Koeltl’s 81-page ruling was “yet another total & complete vindication & exoneration from the Russian, WikiLeaks and every other form of HOAX perpetrated by the DNC, Radical Democrats and others. This is really big ‘stuff’ especially coming from a highly-respected judge who was appointed by President Clinton.”
As reported by Fox News, Judge Koeltl minced no words, writing that the DNC’s argument was “entirely divorced” from the facts. It had raised a
“number of connections and communications between the defendants and with people loosely connected to the Russian Federation, but at no time does the DNC allege any facts...to show that any of the defendants—other than the Russian Federation—participated in the theft of the DNC’s information... Nor does the DNC allege that the defendants ever agreed to help the Russian Federation steal the DNC’s documents.”
Judge Koeltl also cited the case of the Pentagon Papers, to assert that Donald Trump and members of his campaign have First Amendments rights and that even had the Trump campaign taken “stolen material” from Russian hackers, this would not be a crime, as long as they didn’t participate in the actual hacking. WikiLeaks was also protected by the First Amendment, he said, because it didn’t steal documents but only disseminated information which was in the public interest.
Koeltl did add, according to the Washington Examiner, that while the Russian government was “undoubtedly” involved in hacking the DNC servers, federal law prohibits lawsuits against foreign governments, with few exceptions.
Beating a dead horse, DNC spokeswoman Adrienne Watson responded to the ruling, wailing that it
“raises serious concerns about our protections from foreign election interference and theft of private property to advance the interests of our enemies. At a time when the Trump administration and Republican leaders in Congress are ignoring warnings from the president’s own intelligence officials about foreign interference in the 2020 election, this should be of concern to anyone who cares about our democracy and the sanctity of our elections.”
