There’s little doubt Evangelical activists spent Sunday April 22, 2018, sending up prayers of thanksgiving for Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez. Perez filed a civil suit April 20 against Donald Trump Jr., Paul Manafort, Jared Kushner, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, the Russian Federation and 10 John Does accusing them of conspiring to influence the 2016 presidential campaign in a way that damaged the Democratic Party.
“In 2016, individuals tied to the Kremlin notified the Trump campaign that Russia intended to interfere with our democracy,” the 66-page complaint claims in part.
“Through multiple meetings, emails, and other communications, these Russian agents made clear that their government supported Trump and was prepared to use stolen emails and other information to damage his opponent and the Democratic Party.”
Perez’ allegations read much like Barack Obama’s Intelligence Community Assessment allegations leveled by the Clinton-paid dossier on Trump during the 2016 campaign. Both documents claim Vladimir Putin personally ordered cyberattacks on the Clinton campaign and leaked some of the emails to strengthen the Trump campaign.
Prove it
Neither Obama’s ICA nor Clinton’s dossier provided concrete evidence to support its claims. Still, the Justice Department and FBI relied on the rumors to wiretap a Trump adviser on the information.
The White House knew Russian-linked hackers were probing state election system computers, by this time. Then-Chairman of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson said he didn’t “know what to make of it.”
As the size of Russia’s infiltration became obvious to the intelligence community in the summer of 2016, plans were made to counter attack.
These included dismantling the Russian sites suspected of disseminating the leaked emails and stolen memos. Another plan was a cyberattack on the Russian intelligence agencies.
No action
The National Security Agency had many plans. But the Democrats wouldn’t squeeze the trigger, according to Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin's War on America and the Election of Donald Trump by Michael Isikoff and David Corn.
Obama’s National Security Adviser Susan Rice and homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco called off the plan.
Perez told audiences on Sunday talk shows, “This government didn't impose sufficient costs because they were conspiring with the government of Russia.” Is Perez prepared to explain why the last administration did nothing to Russia even though it knew the United States was under attack from Russia?
Democrats running in 2018 are also questioning the wisdom of the national party spending money on a lawsuit that could go to their campaigns. For example, Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) says the DNC’s lawsuit is "not in the interest of the American people."
