Dems' lawsuit: Not as nutty as it sounds
Nor is the lawsuit unprecedented. Former DNC Chair Lawrence O'Brien filed a similar suit in 1972 after the break-in to his office in the Watergate Hotel complex. Two years later, he won the suit, ironically on the same day President Richard Nixon left office.
In the more polarized and contentious age of today, Team Trump adds a new element: a possible countersuit. Stone, a veteran of Nixon's team, said over the weekend that the lawsuit opens the Democrats up "to discovery," a procedure that allows both sides in a legal dispute to obtain evidence from the other side.
"My lawyers and I want to examine the DNC servers to settle this bogus claim of Russian hacking once and for all," Stone wrote in an email to CNBC, expressing his view that DNC is merely peddling "a left-wing conspiracy theory."
Meanwhile, Team Trump peddles right-wing conspiracy theories that it was the Clinton campaign that actually colluded with the Russians, although that theory is built on more speculation than hard evidence.
In another weekend tweet, Trump also goaded Democrats with the threat of a countersuit. "So funny, the Democrats have sued the Republicans for Winning. Now the R's counter and force them to turn over a treasure trove of material, including Servers and Emails."
But will we see both sides engage in a drawn-out legal battle for each other's private files? It isn't clear what grounds Trump and Company might use for such a pursuit. More important, Trump has a long record of threatening more court fights than he actually wages.
You might recall his similar promises to sue the publisher of Michael Wolf's "Fire and Fury" or CBS News for a Stormy Daniels interview or the many women who have accused him of sexual misconduct. None of those lawsuits has yet materialized. Countless journalists are waiting for the discovery process that any of those actions might open up.
More important, since Trump's surprising election shook things up in 2016, Democrats have been scoring significant victories in special elections. That's given Perez a little more running room to try such offbeat stunts as the lawsuit against Team Trump.
But to win the midterms or prepare for the 2020 presidential, Democrats need to offer answers for issues like good jobs, health care and school funding, just for starters. Lawsuits are not enough.
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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.)
(c) 2018 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
