Alleging a massive international conspiracy, the Democratic National Committee filed suit in Manhattan federal court Friday against members of the campaign of President Donald Trump, WikiLeaks, and the Russian government for the hacks of the DNC's computers by Russian agents in support of Trump's bid for the presidency.

The 66-page complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York pulls together a master narrative of the various strands made public since the DNC's computers were hacked in 2015 and 2016 ahead of the presidential election.

From the allegations of Russia executing the breaches of the DNC, to the communications between Trump adviser Roger Stone and WikiLeaks—both named defendants—to the meeting between then-campaign manager Paul Manafort, Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Donald Trump Jr.—all also named defendants—and a Russian attorney who promised “dirt” on Hillary Clinton, the complaint brings together all of the relevant episodes in the Trump-Russia saga to claim a broad conspiracy that did “profound damage” to the DNC, as well as the nation.

“The conspiracy constituted an act of previously unimaginable treachery: the campaign of the presidential nominee of a major party in league with a hostile foreign power to bolster its own chance to win the presidency,” the complaint stated. “And, in carrying out this effort, defendants conspired to disseminate documents stolen from the DNC in violation of the law … Under the laws of this nation, Russia and its co-conspirators must answer for these actions.”

The suit does allege specific harm done to the DNC. The committee claims it suffered a “dramatic drop” in donations. It had to pay more than $1 million to repair and fix its cybersecurity issues. Staff members suffered harassment, including death threats. But the suit also aims to “address the individual and collective conduct” of the named defendants.

The complaint begins with what it says are pre-existing ties between Russian figures and various associates of Trump, as well as the president himself. Relying on media reports, the complaint detailed Trump business connections with Russia, Manafort and his associate's work in Ukraine, before turning to the history of Russian President Vladimir Putin's long-standing interest in harming former Democratic presidential candidate Clinton's campaign.

The complaint maintains throughout that the actors worked together in an effort to do damage to Clinton and the Democratic Party ahead of and during the 2016 presidential election in support of the Trump campaign.

In many ways, the suit represents a civil parallel to the criminal work being pursued by special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into the same material. According to a source with insight into DNC's suit, the civil suit operates entirely separate from Mueller's work, even as substantial amounts of material used in support of the civil proceeding is based on the efforts of the U.S. Department of Justice's investigation into the matter.

What the civil suit provides, according to the source, is the opportunity to bring the civil discovery process to bear on many of the allegations made against the Trump campaign team. A number of named defendants, such as Manafort, are already the subject of criminal charges brought by Mueller. Others, such as former campaign aide George Papadopoulos and Manafort associate Rick Gates are cooperating with the government.

According to the source, the civil proceedings aren't counting on any of the criminal discovery material, and are expecting to proceed from scratch in an attempt to prove the allegations in the complaint. The civil action will aim to remain disentangled from the work being done by Mueller, the source said.

However, the source said the DNC's own internal investigation, along with public documents such as intelligence reports establishing Russia as being behind the hack, and indictments and other court filings that support the allegations are enough to validate the complaint.

There were no immediate responses to requests to press officers or the individual named defendants in the matter for comment.

“During the 2016 presidential campaign, Russia launched an all-out assault on our democracy, and it found a willing and active partner in Donald Trump's campaign. This constituted an act of unprecedented treachery: the campaign of a nominee for president of the United States in league with a hostile foreign power to bolster its own chance to win the presidency,” said DNC chairman Tom Perez.

“No one is above the law and the perpetrators of this attack must be held accountable,” he said, adding that he expects future election attacks and the suit is aimed in part at preventing them.

Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll represent the DNC in the matter.

Read the law suit below:

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