Taking On Issues - Political Issues and Government Policies

A Hot Discussion Forum on Government Policies and Political Issues

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Election 2016
  • Big Government
  • Healthcare
  • The Other Side
  • What’s New
  • Your Freedom
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Federal judge to DNC: Your Russia-collusion lawsuit over 2016 hack “entirely divorced from the facts”

July 31, 2019 By Takingonissues

Conspiracy theories may get a lot of traction on social media, but they don’t fare nearly as well in federal court. The Democratic National Committee learned that the hard way yesterday after having their lawsuit against Donald Trump’s campaign over Russian collusion dismissed for being “entirely divorced from the facts.” Not only did the DNC not provide any evidence of collusion, the sharing of DNC e-mails after their publication is covered by the First Amendment, Judge John Koetl ruled:

A federal judge in New York on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Democratic National Committee against the Russian government, President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and Wikileaks that alleged a vast, international conspiracy to tip the scales of the 2016 presidential election.

In an 81-page opinion, Judge John Koeltl wrote that the Russian government was the “primary wrongdoer” in the alleged plot to hack into the DNC’s systems and steal a trove of emails and documents. …

On Tuesday, Judge Koeltl ruled against the DNC, emphasizing that they did not allege that anyone other than the Russian government participated in the hacking of their systems, and failed to “raise a factual allegation that suggests that any of the defendants were even aware that the Russian Federation was planning to hack the DNC’s computers until after it had already done so.”

“The DNC argues that the various meetings and conversations between the defendants in this case and with persons connected to the Russian government during the time that Russian GRU agents were stealing the DNC’s information show that the defendants conspired with the Russian Federation to steal and disseminate the DNC’s materials,” Koeltl wrote. “That argument is entirely divorced from the facts actually alleged in the Second Amended complaint.”

After three years of shrieking hysteria over Russia collusion, and three years of prominent Democrats like Adam Schiff insisting that proof of it exists, the DNC couldn’t make a single proffer on it. Instead, they relied on an argument that the Trump campaign’s sharing of the information post-hack was evidence of the conspiracy pre-hack, which as Koetle concluded is simply nonsense. “While the court is required to accept the factual allegations in the Second Amended Complaint,” Koetl wrote, “it is not required to accept conclusory allegations asserted as facts.”

It’s a pretty sad end for the Russia-collusion theory. A civil suit has a lower standard of proof than a criminal prosecution, and the DNC couldn’t even muster enough to keep the judge from dismissing the complaint. Small wonder, then, that Donald Trump wasted no time declaring victory:

….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. The Witch Hunt Ends!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 30, 2019

That’s probably too optimistic as the focus has shifted to obstruction in Congress, but it’s still an embarrassment for those Democrats who have flogged the collusion narrative for the last two-plus years. It might, however, signal a problem for the Department of Justice in their upcoming prosecution of Julian Assange. The Wall Street Journal notes that Koetl’s ruling might signal how Assange can disentangle himself from some of the charges he faces, at least:

Judge Koeltl’s ruling addressed a central concern about press freedoms raised in another case about WikiLeaks. In May, the U.S. Justice Department charged Mr. Assange with violating the Espionage Act for an alleged effort to obtain and publish classified information about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. U.S. authorities are seeking to have Mr. Assange extradited from the U.K., where he was arrested in April.

The Department of Justice had better prepare their case against Assange better than the DoJ did. Koetl pointed to Bartnicki in ruling that publication of materials stolen by someone else is still covered under the First Amendment if the publisher didn’t participate in the theft. Even if Wikileaks directly and actively sought out the hackers to get the data, the publication would still be protected, Koetl ruled. That’s something to watch when Assange comes to court.

The post Federal judge to DNC: Your Russia-collusion lawsuit over 2016 hack “entirely divorced from the facts” appeared first on Hot Air.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Email, RSS Follow

Related

Subscribe to Taking on Issues

Enter your email address to subscribe to our site and receive notifications of new posts by email.

RSS Political News

  • George H.W. Bush's grandson launches congressional bid in Texas December 10, 2019
  • Pete Buttigieg can identify clients from 2007-10 consulting work, firm says December 10, 2019
  • Maximum Pressure on Iran is Driving Us Toward War December 10, 2019
  • The Left's Methods Are Far More Cult-Like Than Trump's December 10, 2019
  • Trump the Natural Consequence of Anti-Democracy Decade December 10, 2019
  • The Sophisticated Stupidity of the Elites December 10, 2019
  • Don't Cry for Harris Exiting Presidential Race December 10, 2019
  • Elizabeth Warren Declares War on Charter Schools December 10, 2019
  • A Safe Space Society Is a Totalitarian Nightmare December 10, 2019

Archives

New Featured Articles

  • GOP lawmaker stops opening statement, blasts Congressional inaction
    July 27, 2019

    The ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee is fed up with Congressional inactivity on dealing with the crisis on the southern border. During a forum held on family separation at the border Thursday, Rep. Doug Collins abruptly interrupted his own opening statement to get a few things off his chest. Titled “Oversight of Family […]

    Email, RSS Follow
  • Trump: “Big day of negotiations with China” tomorrow with Xi deputy
    October 10, 2019
    Could an end to the trade war with China be near? The […]
  • Hillary’s rise-above-partisanship op-ed on the Mueller report never mentions collusion
    April 24, 2019
    Hillary Clinton has written an op-ed for the […]
  • Buttigieg’s Foreign Policy Address
    June 11, 2019
    It has become conventional wisdom that 2020 Democratic […]
  • Bill Kristol Takes Nasty Swipe At New Left-Right Project for Peace
    July 1, 2019
    News of the creation of the Quincy Institute for […]
  • Yes Congress, Afghanistan is Your Vietnam
    August 10, 2017
    20th Century “Angel of Mercy.” D. R. Howe […]
  • What Did Erdogan Know About the Khashoggi Murder Plot?
    October 1, 2019
    As the world marks the anniversary of an infamous […]
  • UN can’t ‘nullify’ anything
    December 21, 2017
    If there was ever a demonstration of the fecklessness […]
  • When the Content Police Came for the Babylon Bee
    June 5, 2018
    I was a very curious kid, always asking questions, […]
  • As Senate conservatives gain ground in healthcare debate, Rand Paul tells us all we need to know (video)
    July 3, 2017
    Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was complaining about the GOP […]
  • Finally, the Odd Couple Splits
    September 12, 2019
    The sudden and bitter departure of John Bolton from […]
  • The church of secularism is reaping what it has sown
    January 28, 2018
    Democracy is an organized system of political, moral […]
  • The “Donald Trump of the Philippines” is talking about giving our military the boot
    October 26, 2016
    posted at 8:01 am on October 26, 2016 by Jazz Shaw […]
  • “Law and Order” star arrested with Jane Fonda on Capitol Hill
    October 19, 2019
    Veteran actor Sam Waterson lived 78 years of his life […]
  • And Now, Ryan Lizza
    December 11, 2017
    The New Yorker has severed ties with its Washington […]
Copyright © 2019 TakingOnIssues.com

Contact Us | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Advertise | About Us