WASHINGTON – Lawyers and plaintiffs suing the Democratic National Committee for rigging the 2016 presidential election say they're being harassed with threatening messages and "freaky" encounters and they fear for their safety – particularly in the wake of the mysterious and unsolved murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich – but a federal court has denied their request for protection.

"We filed the motion because we do feel that not only us, but our staff and the plaintiffs, are deserving of a motion," attorney Elizabeth Beck, who is litigating the case, told WND. "But our court system does not have the resources to do so."

She continued: "The court, in denying our motion for protection, stated in its order that the federal Marshals Service doesn't have enough resources to devote that amount of protection."

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A trove of DNC emails made public by WikiLeaks throughout the 2016 presidential election revealed top DNC officials privately conspiring to undermine candidate Bernie Sanders' campaign, ultimately resulting in Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz resigning from her post as DNC chairwoman in July 2016.

Jared Beck and Elizabeth Lee Beck filed a class-action lawsuit against Wasserman-Schulz and the Democratic National Committee last summer, charging that the DNC committed "fraud" in favoring Clinton over Sanders during the Democratic Party primaries. The Becks are seeking damages for Democratic Party donors and voters. They're demanding the party repay individuals and Sanders supporters who were duped by the party's 2016 primary and alleging misappropriation of funds.

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'2 potential witnesses in my case ... both died'

On June 13, the Becks filed the motion for order of protection in the U.S. District Court in Florida. They asked Judge Zloch to provide court protection to the plaintiffs, their counsel and their families, as well as all of the witnesses in the DNC fraud lawsuit.

In support of the motion, they cited the unusual deaths of Seth Rich, DNC lawsuit process server Shawn Lucas and and the late Miami federal prosecutor Beranton Whisenant. (It's unclear what roles, if any at all, Rich or Whisenant have played in the DNC case.) Beck also cited threats and bizarre phone calls the plaintiffs and counsel say they've received.

Rich, 27, was a DNC voter expansion data director for two years and had accepted a position with Hillary Clinton's campaign. He was murdered in Washington, D.C., on July 10, 2016, near his apartment in an affluent neighborhood. Rich was shot twice in the back, and his wallet, credit cards, watch and phone were left in his possession. The Metropolitan Police Department has described it as a "botched robbery."

Private investigators, however, have claimed there is evidence Rich was the source WikiLeaks used to obtain thousands of DNC emails released on the eve of the party's presidential nominating convention last July. The emails, indicating the party was manipulating the primary race in favor of Clinton, led to Wasserman Schultz's resignation.

"We believe Mr. Rich might have been a potential witness in this case," Jared Beck said in a video announcing the protection request.

Jared Beck also tweeted on May 29: "If #DNCFraudLawsuit proceeds, DNC employee Seth Rich would've been potential witness. One reason why I'm so concerned what happened to him."

Less than a month after Rich was murdered, attorney Shawn Lucas, 38, was found dead in his bathroom. Lucas served the DNC with the lawsuit in early July 2016. According to Heavy, the Office of Chief Medical Examiner of Washington, D.C., said in November 2016 that Lucas' Aug. 2 death was accidental and was caused by the "combined adverse effects of fentanyl [a synthetic opioid pain medication], cyclobenzaprine [a muscle relaxant], and mitragynine [better known as kraton]."

Rich and Lucas are both on WND's list of 33 people associated with the Clintons who have died mysterious and often violent deaths.

Beranton Whisenant Jr., 38, was a federal prosecutor who handled mostly immigration-related cases. He was found dead last month in Hollywood, Florida, which is in Debbie Wasserman Schultz's district. Police say he might have died as a result of a possible gunshot wound to the head or other type of trauma.

Beck refused to speculate on whether any of the deaths might have been politically motivated murders, but she said the timing is suspicious.

"Rich [was] a potential witness in my case," she said. "All I'm saying is, two potential witnesses in my case – Shawn Lucas was my process server – they both died. Why they died, how they died, I don't know. Mr. Lucas was about to provide evidence to the court in this case, on service of process, when he very, very suddenly passed away.

"Seth Rich, he was an employee of the DNC, and he was murdered. Nothing was taken from him. They first said it was a botched robbery, but nothing was taken from him. You can ask anybody that grew up in a large urban area – I've gotten robbed – they usually take something."

WND has launched a GoFundMe campaign to get to the bottom of the Seth Rich murder. You can personally help us get to the truth of what really happened.

'Freaky' calls, harassment and tampering

Meanwhile, Beck and her employees have been receiving "freaky" calls, she told WND.

"My co-counsel, Collin O'Brian – all the time he's been getting emails and phone calls from anonymous people causing a lot of stress on him and his family," she said. "Anonymous people are calling up Collin, talking about Mr. Whisenant. It's not a call for information, it's very freaky. These callers sound angry, ranting, talking about how they don't like lawyers, and they mention Beranton Whisenant."

One of the plaintiffs, Angela Monson, claims in an affidavit to have awakened to her porch door open and both of her computers had been moved and showed evidence of tampering.

Beck said one of her staffers received a strange visit from an individual who asked for her by name. The person left some Democratic Party campaign literature for her, despite the fact that she is not a Democrat and there are no elections currently taking place in Florida.

"Because of those instances, we felt it was incumbent on us to bring this to the court's attention," Beck said.

How many people do YOU know who have died mysteriously? Not as many as the Clintons! Check out WND's explosive report, "'Clinton death list': 33 spine-tingling cases."

On June 1, the Becks filed a motion in court claiming they received a voice-modulated phone call from a number matching Debbie Wasserman Schultz' office.

"We get this call about two weeks ago. I don't know who it was; they were using a voice changing technology," Beck told WND. "The person who answered the call couldn't even tell if the person was a man or a woman. They were trying to find out information about the lawsuit.

"This number came up. I took a screenshot of it. I filed it in court. If you Google the number, the number is to defendant Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz's local Aventura office."

Wasserman Schultz and the DNC's defense counsel filed a response to the Becks' submission stating that the congresswoman and her staff had no knowledge of any such call being made, nor was any such call authorized. The document also states that the office in question had been undergoing repairs for several months.

DNC lawsuit: 'If you lie to somebody, steal from them, that's a crime'

Current DNC Chairman and former Secretary of Labor Tom Perez, while campaigning to become DNC chairman, admitted in February that the Democratic Party primaries were rigged in favor of Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton. He later claimed he "misspoke."

"The lawsuit is on behalf of three groups of people. One of the groups is folks that donated to the campaign of Bernie Sanders. The second group are people that donated funds to the DNC. The third group is the group of registered Democrats," Beck explained.

Defending the tactics the party used last year during an April 25 hearing, DNC lawyers explained before Judge William J. Zloch that the party has a right to select candidates through "back-room" deals.

"We could have voluntarily decided that, 'Look, we're gonna go into back rooms like they used to and smoke cigars and pick the candidate that way,'" DNC attorney Bruce Spiva argued during the hearing. "That's not the way it was done. But they could have. And that would have also been their right, and it would drag the court well into party politics, internal party politics to answer those questions."

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Article 4, Section 5 of the DNC charter states: "The chairperson shall exercise impartiality and evenhandedness between the presidential candidates and campaigns. The chairperson shall be responsible for ensuring that the national officers and staff of the Democratic National Committee maintain impartiality and evenhandedness during the Democratic Party presidential nominating process."

Misleading constituents and donors is "fraud," Beck charged.

"This was a revelation to the voters – to have that said openly – the Democratic National Committee's own charter said that it will run the races in a fair and even-handed manner," she said. "Chairwoman Wasserman Schulz said on national T.V. that they are not biased. So you have it straight from the horse's mouth. You have it in black and white on a piece of paper. I guess none of that means anything. The Democratic Party made a statement, in absolute terms, that they were running a fair primary, and it looks like that hadn't been the case. They would probably disagree that choosing a candidate in a backroom deal is the equivalent to rigging. I am sure there are many voters that would disagree."

Beck continued: "The lawsuit is based on [DNC] fraud. The concept of fraud is very, very old. It's older than our Constitution. It goes back centuries, and it basically says if you lie to somebody and you steal from them, that's a crime. At least you can sue them for it."

While Beck has been inundated with thousands of phone calls from Americans inquiring about the case since her firm filed suit, the mainstream media have not reported on the case at all.

The media are deliberately ignoring the suit, Beck argued, because news organizations like CNN and the New York Times are unabashedly an "apparatus" of the Democratic Party and the Clintons.

"They are not covering this story because they were really quite possibly a part of the apparatus that tried to propel Secretary Clinton into office. … Instead of just reporting, they seem to have been really invested in the outcome – really invested," she said.

"How do I know that they are invested?" Beck continued. "Because the New York Times interviewed me over a lawsuit in which President Trump was the adverse party, and they were all over that story. And then when I started contacting the reporter, Michael Barboro – my contact at the New York Times – to cover the lawsuit against the DNC, he basically lost his head and blocked me on Twitter.

"Fragile New York Times temperaments. They can't handle it. Obviously it's a topic that they really don't want to touch with a 10-foot pole."

WND has launched a GoFundMe campaign to get to the bottom of the Seth Rich murder. You can personally help us get to the truth of what really happened.