It sounds like in some ways the Democratic suit against Nixon presages this lawsuit–but in my lifetime it’s unprecedented. So I’m curious what the folks here, both the informed and the ignorant-but-like-to-pontificate-anyway, think about the suit.
What are its chances of success?
What are its implications, in matters such as discovery of new data and/or effect on Mueller et al investigations?
IANAL, but I think this case has merit in the same way the case against Nixon did. Facts are facts, and there are plenty already in the public domain to support the DNC’s filing.
However, I also think the case will be stayed pending the results of the Mueller investigation.
Meantime, it keeps the issue of Russian interference in the 2016 election front and center for the mid-terms.
I think the most interesting thing is that it doesn’t actually name Donald Trump personally. It goes after friends and associates, like Don Jr and Roger Stone. I think that means the suit is more likely to proceed (not necessarily succeed) because those people aren’t shielded the way government officials are.
Obviously, the Russian government is just going to flip them off. Wikileaks however … I can’t help wondering if Ecuador won’t use this as an opportunity to get Julian Assange off their couch.
I think there’s enough information already publicly available - for example, Junior’s enthusiasm for Russia’s help in his dad’s campaign and Roger Stone’s curious statements suggesting that he knew what Wikileaks was going to say next - to merit the suit going forward.
Also keep in mind that the standard for winning a suit is lower in civil proceedings. The DNC won’t have to prove anything beyond a shadow of a doubt.
The point of all this is not fundraising. The chief thing here is that it keeps the legal pressure on the Trump campaign even if Donald fires Mueller. Given a) the overall squirreliness of Trump’s associates and b) the way his legal team is already overstretched, this is going to make Donald’s life harder.
If this suit goes through, internal Trump campaign documents become discoverable evidence. This is a major problem heading into the re-election.
They might also be hoping to get some key figures to make statements under oath, which could either be useful in their own right, or eventually lead to perjury charges. Or possibly both. Maybe even a “You can’t handle the truth!” moment.
It does exactly the wrong thing at the wrong time. It politicizes the legal/criminal investigation into the Trump crime family.
The average person doesn’t give a toss about Russia and collusion; they just want more opportunity for economic growth. The president has been linked to economic growth in the mind of the average Ameritard over the last few decades. If the economy’s good, Trump wins and he could strangle someone on live TV and nobody would care. If the economy’s bad, he could feed children in Africa on live TV and nobody would care - they’d want him out even before the end of his term.
Seems smart to me. Trump can pardon people, but he can’t stop a civil suit. It just seems like a third front, after the federal and state level charges.
As for (2), the implications of discovery would potentially be wide-ranging, if it ever got that far, because the Republicans would feast. The DNC has thus far always refused to submit its hacked server to outside examination, but now it would be forced to do so. Discovery would further be allowed into the particular details of the DNC’s decision not to allow outside scrutiny, since it has put the retention of Crowdstrike directly into issue.
Also, the allegations about Veselnitskaya put Fusion GPS into issue, which would mean discovery into all of the dealings with Russian (government) sources by them and Steele on behalf of the DNC.
So as to (3), I clearly think the plaintiffs don’t actually want the suit to go anywhere. It seems instead like an attempt to revive the Russia allegations (in a libel-proof forum) before the 2018 election. This in turn suggests that they don’t foresee Mueller’s investigation yielding anything big, or else there wouldn’t be a need to open a second front.
(One can even go full-on conspiratorial and posit that Mueller’s team has leaked to them that nothing big is forthcoming).
Moreover, if the suit were to survive a motion to dismiss and go to discovery, the defendants then have every incentive to countersue over the retention of Steele and the creation of the dossier.