Trump Campaign Isn't Liable for Russia Email Hacks, Lawyer Says

(Bloomberg) -- Even if members of the 2016 Trump presidential campaign engaged in “cheerleading” for the public release of emails hacked by Russia, the organization has no legal responsibility for the private information being stolen, one of his lawyers told a U.S. judge.

The Democratic National Committee has sued members of the Trump campaign, Russia and WikiLeaks over what it calls a conspiracy to hack DNC emails and then leak them before the election. The lawsuit alleges racketeering, computer fraud and other illegal acts that were a “brazen attack on American democracy." President Donald Trump isn’t a named defendant.

Michael Carvin, a lawyer representing the campaign, asked U.S. District Judge John Koeltl on Friday to throw out the DNC lawsuit.

“They don’t allege participation by the Trump campaign or, really, by anybody else in the hacking,” Carvin said.

Joseph Sellers, who represents the DNC, argued that at this early stage of the litigation, his side needs only to make plausible claims, not present "smoking-gun evidence."

The two lawyers also differed when the judge asked if he can consider the report of Special Counsel Robert Mueller in deciding whether to dismiss the suit.

Carvin wants the judge to follow the report’s finding that the investigation “did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference." Sellers said Koeltl shouldn’t consider the report.

Koeltl didn’t say when he will issue a decision.

The case is: The case is Democratic National Committee v. The Russian Federation, 18-cv-03501, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

To contact the reporter on this story: Bob Van Voris in federal court in Manhattan at rvanvoris@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Steve Stroth, Joe Schneider

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.