Attorneys working for the Democratic National Committee are hoping a federal judge will throw out a lawsuit filed by a bunch of Bernie Sanders supporters who believe they got duped by the DNC.
‘The DNC was biased in favor of one candidate – Hillary Clinton – from the beginning and throughout the process,” the plaintiffs wrote in their original lawsuit. The complaint, which was filed in federal court in Florida, alleges fraud, as well as negligence as it relates to a Russian Hack on the DNC server. The Bernie backers contend that the trove of DNC emails posted by Wikileaks further proves that the Democratic Party was working against Bernie Sanders from the start.
However, in a motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed this week, attorneys with the DNC fired back. They believe that the lawsuit is completely without merit, and that the Bernie supporters are using “litigation as a political weapon against a national party (and to support their SuperPAC) in the middle of an election.” They also don’t believe the Bernie backers have standing to even bring the lawsuit.
The DNC attorneys also get a bit creative in their effort to get this lawsuit thrown out. They claim that all of the named plaintiffs already knew that the DNC was biased when they donated — so therefore how could they have been duped if they knew? We are not joking, that was one of their actual claims in the motion to dismiss.
Here is a quote form the DNC’s motion:
For example, Rick Washik, donated to the Sanders Campaign between February 2016 and June 2016, months after posting a link to a petition that claimed that Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz was biased. Catherine Cyko, FAC ¶ 19, donated to the Sanders Campaign between February 28, 2016 and June 30, 2016, after she posted an article accusing the DNC of bias. Marlowe St. Cloud Primacy , made her first reported donation to the Sanders Campaign on March 8, 2016, several days after posting an article accusing the DNC of bias.Rosalie Consiglio,, made her first reported donation to the Sanders Campaign a week after posting an article accusing the DNC of bias…
This sample demonstrates that, aside from not being actionable, Plaintiffs’ theory that donors relied upon Defendants’ statements about neutrality to make donations they would not have otherwise made is not plausible. [citations omitted]
The DNC attorneys also claim that the plaintiffs cannot prove that the DNC’s purported bias actually impacted the primary, and that the claims are merely based on speculation. You might recall the DNC Wikileaks dump did show that party officials grew increasingly annoyed with Bernie Sanders, and even tried to undermine his campaign.
“Our legal team is analyzing the DNC’s motion as we speak, and we are preparing our response on behalf of the Plaintiffs. Speaking just for myself, I will say that after reading the DNC’s motion, I am more convinced than ever about the merits of our claims, as well as the significance of this case to restoring integrity to our country’s democratic process,” Jared Beck, an attorney who represents the plaintiffs, told LawNewz.com.
This article has been updated with a statement from the plaintiff’s attorney.