Marc Elias of Perkins Coie, addressing media outside the U.S. Supreme Court after arguing two redistricting cases Dec. 5, 2016. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM

Carter Page, who served as an informal foreign policy adviser to President Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, filed a federal lawsuit against the Democratic National Committee, Perkins Coie and two of the law firm's partners Thursday, accusing them of destroying "his once-private life."

Perkins Coie's close relationship to the DNC, and its role in hiring private investigation firm Fusion GPS to undertake opposition research on Trump, has made the firm an unlikely household name and frequent conservative punching bag since the election. In his lawsuit, Page claims the DNC, Perkins Coie and its partners—political law practice chair Marc Elias and Michael Sussmann—defamed him through the so-called "Steele dossier" produced by Fusion GPS.

The dossier stated that the Russian government and its president, Vladimir Putin, actively favored Trump's election over Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Page, who was referenced multiple times in the dossier, alleged it was "replete with falsehoods" as it portrayed him as being a Russian agent. The dossier was shared with multiple reporters, Page alleged.

"The defendants' wrongful actions convinced many Americans that Dr. Page is a traitor to the United States, and as a result he has received—and continues to receive—multiple death threats. Dr. Page's businesses have suffered greatly from the false, malicious information spread by defendants," Page said in his lawsuit, filed in Chicago.

Page alleged the defendants used the false information within the dossier to push the U.S. Justice Department and the FBI to surveil him. The DOJ's internal watchdog last month found that the FBI mishandled its surveillance of Page, finding 17 "significant errors or other omissions" in the applications the agency submitted under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

However, DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz said the FBI's decision to investigate potential Russian ties to the Trump campaign and monitor Page was justified, with no evidence of "political bias or improper motivation."

Page alleged the defendants' defamatory statements led to him losing out on business opportunities in Kazakhstan and the Middle East. Two entities Page runs, Global Energy Capital LLC and Global Natural Gas Ventures LLC, are co-plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

In his federal complaint, Page alleged six counts against all defendants, including defamation, false light, tortious interference with prospective economic advantage and conspiracy.

The Chicago lawsuit marks the second time Page has tried to sue the DNC, Perkins Coie, Elias and Sussmann. He filed a lawsuit on his own in the Western District of Oklahoma in October 2018. U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton dismissed that suit in January 2019 after finding Page failed to show why this lawsuit should proceed in Oklahoma.

"Carter Page's baseless claims are recycled from his previous lawsuit, which was dismissed last year," said DNC deputy communications director Adrienne Watson in a statement.

A Perkins Coie spokesperson expressed similar sentiments in his own statement: "This complaint recycles allegations by Carter Page that were dismissed by a federal judge in Oklahoma last year, and we expect that this latest lawsuit will likewise be dismissed."

This time around, Page is represented by lawyers from Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht's Los Angeles office and Rathje Woodward, a law firm located in the Chicagoland suburb of Wheaton, Illinois.

In a press release, John Pierce, the firm's global managing partner and one of Page's lawyers, described the lawsuit as being a "first salvo" against people who tried to destroy Page's life.

"Today, Pierce Bainbridge and Dr. Page begin a campaign to restore Dr. Page's name and hold those who targeted him accountable," Pierce said. "Most importantly, this is a first step to ensure that the full extent of the FISA abuse that has occurred during the last few years is exposed and remedied. Defendants and those they worked with inside the federal government did not and will not succeed in making America a surveillance state."

Although the DNC, Elias and Sussman are based in Washington, D.C.—and Perkins Coie is headquartered in Seattle—Page argues Chicago was the proper venue for the lawsuit. When Barack Obama, a former U.S. senator from Illinois, was president, he moved the DNC's main operations to the Windy City, establishing jurisdiction, Page asserts.

He also alleged that the relationship DNC, Perkins Coie and Elias had with Fusion GPS was "orchestrated" in the law firm's Chicago office and that at least one key legal decision was made by an unnamed senior lawyer there.

Perkins Coie in 2019 reported having 127 lawyers in its Chicago office, according to ALM Intelligence.

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