The Democratic Party in the US has filed a lawsuit against Russia and the Trump campaign - alleging a conspiracy to disrupt the 2016 presidential election in favour of Donald Trump.
The party alleges that senior Trump campaign officials conspired with the Russian government to damage the election prospects of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and "bolster its own chance to win the presidency".
According to the Washington Post, who first reported the lawsuit, the Democrats claim a Russian hacking campaign 'amounted to an illegal conspiracy to interfere in the election'.
WikiLeaks, who published leaked emails from the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC), is also accused of releasing information to "damage the Democratic Party".
In a statement, the Democrats said: "We’re taking this action because we believe no one is above the law, and we must pursue every avenue of justice against those who engaged in this illegal activity against the DNC and our democracy.
"We must also prevent future attacks on our democracy, and that’s exactly what we’re doing today."
The statement adds: "We believe that Russia found a willing partner in the Trump campaign, who shared their goal of damaging the Democratic Party and helping elect Donald Trump."
An investigation into alleged Russian interference in the US election is currently being conducted by special counsel Robert Mueller.
American intelligence agencies have claimed Vladimir Putin ordered an 'influence campaign' ahead of the 2016 election, having 'developed a clear preference' for Donald Trump.
Republicans last month shut down a House probe into alleged election interference, saying they found no collusion between Trump’s campaign and Moscow. Democrats, however, said they disagreed with the findings.
President Trump has vehemently denied there was any collusion between his campaign and Russia - repeatedly describing such allegations as a 'witch hunt'.
Slippery James Comey, the worst FBI Director in history, was not fired because of the phony Russia investigation where, by the way, there was NO COLLUSION (except by the Dems)!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 18, 2018
