Democrats sue Trump campaign and Russia over allegations of collusion in presidential election

The Democratic Party has sued Russia, the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks over accusations they worked together to disrupt the 2016 US presidential election.

The political party has alleged that Trump officials – including his son and son-in-law – conspired with the Russian government to undermine the campaign of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Court papers in Manhattan, filed on Friday, revealed accusations that Russia’s military spy agency worked with Donald Trump’s team to hack Democratic computers.

The lawsuit alleges that Trump's campaign "gleefully welcomed Russia's help" in the 2016 election and accuses the Trump campaign of being a "racketeering enterprise.

Four US intelligence agencies reported last year that Russia sponsored the hacking of Democratic Party groups and other actions during the 2016 campaign.

Part of the effort was to benefit Mr Trump over Mr Clinton, the agencies said.

The Democratic National Committee blames Russia for breaches of its computer systems in 2015 and the first half of 2016.

Hackers disseminated internal communications of party officials as the Democratic nominating convention got underway, and WikiLeaks released thousands of emails, some of which were embarrassing for the Clinton campaign.

The lawsuit names Donald Trump Jr., Trump associate Roger Stone and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as defendants.

Most of the accusations appeared to be based on news reports and publicly available legal documents and offered little new information about alleged collusion with Moscow.

The White House has not yet commented on the lawsuit but Mr Trump has repeatedly denied his campaign colluded with Russia. Russia has also denied meddling in the election.

The lawsuit, should it go forward, seems likely to help keep the spotlight on the issue of Russian election interference and possible collusion by the Trump campaign.

Both are being investigated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, whose office declined to comment on the Democratic lawsuit.

Through the process of legal discovery, lawyers for the Democratic Party could force the defendants to produce documents they say relate to the collusion issue.