The Democratic Party is suing the Russian government, US President Donald Trump's campaign and WikiLeaks, charging that they carried out a wide-ranging conspiracy to influence the 2016 US presidential election.
The party alleges in the federal lawsuit in Manhattan on Friday that top Trump campaign officials conspired with the Russian government and its military spy agency to hurt Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and tilt the election to Trump by hacking Democratic Party computers.
The lawsuit alleges that Republican Trump's campaign "gleefully welcomed Russia's help" in the 2016 election and accuses it of being a "racketeering enterprise" that worked in tandem with Moscow.
The Democrats allege that Russia informed Trump's campaign that it had conducted a cyber-attack on the DNC. Source: AAP
"During the 2016 presidential campaign, Russia launched an all-out assault on our democracy and it found a willing and active partner in Donald Trump's campaign," said Tom Perez, chair of the Democratic National Convention. "This constituted an act of unprecedented treachery."
Defendants in the suit include three people who have been indicted as a result of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian meddling: former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, Manafort associate Rick Gates and former campaign aide George Papadopoulos.
Also named as defendants were Donald Trump Jr, Trump associate Roger Stone and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.
The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Trump has repeatedly denied his campaign colluded with Russia and Moscow has denied meddling in the election.
Four US intelligence agencies reported last year that Russia sponsored the hacking of Democratic Party groups and other actions during the 2016 campaign. Part of the effort was to benefit Trump over Clinton, the agencies said.
The DNC blames Russia for breaches of its computer systems in 2015 and the first half of 2016.
Hackers disseminated internal communications of party officials as the Democratic nominating convention began and WikiLeaks released thousands of emails, some of which were embarrassing for the Clinton campaign and were intended to stoke conflicts among the party's supporters.
Most of the accusations appeared to be based on news reports and publicly available legal documents and offered little new information about alleged collusion with Moscow.
Democrats are keen to remind voters of the issue of Russia and the 2016 election ahead of November's mid-term congressional elections. Early polls show Republicans run some risk of losing control of congress.
Stone said the lawsuit was based on "a left-wing conspiracy theory". "NO proof or evidence," he wrote in an email to Reuters.
The lawsuit, should it go forward, seems likely to help keep the spotlight on the issue of Russian election interference and possible collusion by the Trump campaign. Both are being investigated by Mueller, whose office declined to comment on the Democratic lawsuit.
Through the process of legal discovery, lawyers for the Democratic Party could force the defendants to produce documents they say relate to the collusion issue.
The lawsuit "might not have any journalistic, judicial, or political staying power," Leonard Williams, a political science professor at Manchester University, said.
"Whether it amounts to more than a story to tell remains to be seen. It might lead to additional discovery of events and relationships that we don't yet know about," he said.
