Judge tosses suit alleging Trump campaign conspired with Russia in DNC hack

[DonViejo]

Source: Politico



By JOSH GERSTEIN 07/03/2018 11:06 PM EDT

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit alleging that President Donald Trump's campaign and former Trump adviser Roger Stone conspired with Russia and WikiLeaks to publish hacked Democratic National Committee emails during the 2016 presidential race.

U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Huvelle said in a ruling Tuesday evening that the suit's efforts to tie the Trump campaign and Stone's alleged actions to the nation's capital were too flimsy for the case to proceed in a Washington, D.C., court.

"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 Huvelle, an appointee of President Bill Clinton. "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."

But Huvelle made clear that her decision was a technical one based on issues of legal jurisdiction and was not a definitive ruling on allegations that the Trump campaign struck an illicit deal with the Russians during the presidential contest.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/03/trump-dnc-hacking-693965

[Honeycombe8]

1. Too bad.

This will be used by Trumpers as proof of his innocence.

I didn't even know about this lawsuit.

[secondwind]

2. All is not lost. Read the last sentence.

[peekaloo]

4. Exactly. Ruling based on a technicality.

[Honeycombe8]

8. Won't matter to Trumpers. "Trump exonerated! No collusion!" nt

[peekaloo]

9. Maga-pies

are birds that poop from their mouth.

[SkatmanRoth]

3. Looks like the 'fix' is in

We should have gotten rid of Trump in the first six months. Now he has had time to consolidate power and influence the Judiciary. Every passing day it is getting harder to make the case that Trump has to go.

What is Special Council Mueller waiting for? He needs to indict Trump and get the impeachment proceedings moving.

[FakeNoose]

6. Not necessarily - the case went down because of jurisdiction

They probably could pursue the same lawsuit in the NY courts and get a green light.
That would be my guess, anyway.

[Jim Lane]

12. This judge was a Clinton appointee. I don't see any fix. (n/t)

[WhiteTara]

5. All i's must be dotted and t's crossed

filing lawsuits willy nilly will not help. But she said it was technical--not that it wasn't real. Get those lawsuits filed correctly without frivolity.

[kimbutgar]

7. I caught this late last night some good comments on this thread from smart du'ers

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210826317

[Duppers]

10. This corrupt judge doesn't read newspapers. nt

[Jim Lane]

13. As a general rule, a judge is not supposed to decide based on newspaper stories.

The parties to the case present their evidence and arguments. A party that disagrees with what another party says has the chance to rebut it.

There are some limited circumstances under which newspaper stories are admissible, but a whole bunch of newspaper stories shrieking that there was collusion wouldn't prove it, any more than the defendants could defeat the suit by pointing to a whole bunch of other newspaper stories shrieking "Witch hunt!"

In any event, as the judge took pains to point out, her decision wasn't based on a factual finding about whether or not there was collusion.

[alwaysinasnit]

11. This might clarify....

From the judge's ruling

"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 judge specifically said "This is the wrong forum.."