On Thursday, former US President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit against Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) for allegedly collaborating to construct a “false narrative” during the 2016 election campaign in order to convince voters that he had ties to Russia.
According to the lawsuit, filed in federal court for the southern district of Florida in Miami, the DNC invented an alleged collusion between the Republican campaign and Moscow, which led to an “unfounded federal investigation.”
The document considers that the defendants took advantage of access to “highly confidential data sources” and compared what happened to the Watergate scandal, a plot of political espionage to the Democratic Party in the 70s that ended with the resignation of the then president of the United States. Richard Nixon.
Trump’s lawyers say the defendants sought to influence the “confidence” of the electorate and “worked together for a single selfish purpose: to vilify Donald J. Trump.” The lawsuit asks the judge to award “punitive damages, costs, and another relief this court deems just and appropriate.”
“The plot was conceived, coordinated, and carried out by high-level officials in the Clinton campaign and the DNC,” the court brief reads, noting that the “multi-pronged attack” sought to “publicly smear” Trump. instigating a media frenzy.”
The defendants include several FBI figures, including its former director James Comey, as well as Clinton campaign manager John Podesta, and President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan, among others.
Also among the defendants is former British spy Christopher Steele, the author of a report alleging that Moscow was linked to Trump’s election campaign and that Russian secret services had sensitive material about the former president that could be used against him.
The federal investigation found no proof that Trump or his campaign collaborated with Russia to win the election, but it did determine that the Russian government orchestrated a campaign to assist Trump in winning the presidency in 2016.
