WASHINGTON – A congressman and the NAACP on Tuesday filed a civil lawsuit alleging that former President Donald Trump, Trump’s longtime lawyer and ally Rudy Giuliani, and two extremist groups conspired to fan the January 6 uprising at the US Capitol. .
Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, insists on a claim under the introduction of the Ku Klux Klan Act, a law from the Reconstruction era that includes a section that illegally conspires to prevent public officials from ” to fulfill any duties ”. Thompson claims that Trump and Giuliani incited the mob that descended on the Capitol to prevent Congress from declaring the Electoral College, while leaders of the Proud Boys and Eath Keepers “acted in concert to address the assault.”
This is the first civil lawsuit that Trump and his supporters want to hold accountable for the violence at the Capitol, but it is not the first lawsuit Trump faces under the Ku Klux Klan Act. Trump is an accused in a separate case pending in federal court, which accuses him of conspiring with the Republican National Committee to interfere with the rights of black voters after the election. Other cases to appeal the law include an ongoing lawsuit against white supremacist groups involved in arranging the “Unite the Right” march in August 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia, which resulted in dozens of injuries and the death of the 32-year-old Heather Heyer resulted.
Thompson’s lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, DC, comes just two days after the U.S. Senate voted over the weekend to acquit Trump in his indictment on the charge of inciting the uprising. Thompson made a statement during the announcement of the lawsuit, saying that because the Republicans of the Senate “abdicated their responsibility to hold the president accountable, we must hold him accountable for the uprising he so blatantly planned.” The case also quoted Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell who voted to acquit Trump, but then said Trump was responsible for the uprising and referred to “civil litigation” as a way to hold him accountable.
When Congress convened in a joint session on January 6 to officially confirm the outcome of the election, hundreds of people crossed the security boundaries around the Capitol; some U.S. Capitol police officers assaulted and tried to hold the rope to get through, according to the charges. The assault took place shortly after Trump spoke a few blocks further on a protest and urged his supporters to go to the Capitol and tell them, ‘Something is wrong here, something is really wrong, can not have happened and we fight, we fight like hell, and if you do not fight like hell, you will no longer have a land. ‘
Federal prosecutors have highlighted how some people charged during the uprising described themselves as following Trump’s instructions. Some accused who tried to keep the government behind bars also argued against judges that they should not be considered a danger to the community because they took orders from the then president and commander-in-chief.
Thompson’s case describes Trump’s refusal to accept the election results in the weeks after November 3 and the efforts of the former president and Giuliani to repeatedly attack the integrity of the election process and falsely claim that there was widespread voter fraud. Electoral officials in states where Trump focused his attacks, including Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania, found no evidence to support his allegations of fraudulent activities. Dozens of states and federal judges across the country have dismissed lawsuits brought by Trump and his allies as election results as procedural or meritorious.
As proof of coordination with the Proud Boys, a far-right group that labeled its members ‘Western chauvinists’, Thompson quoted Trump’s response during a presidential debate in late September when asked if he would condemn violence that committed by white supremacists and extremist groups. . The then candidate Joe Biden called in and asked Trump to condemn the Proud Boys as an example, to which Trump replied, “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.” Shortly after the remark, Enrique Tarrio, a leader and public face of the Proud Boys organization, tweeted: “Stand by sir.” The quote became a kind of motto for the group.
Tarrio was arrested when he tried to enter DC before the January 6 uprising, but of the more than 200 people charged so far, a small number have been identified as members of the Proud Boys. Thompson’s lawsuit cites the involvement of Joseph Biggs, who was charged and identified as a Proud Boys leader.
Several people were identified by prosecutors as members of the Oath Guards. a militia organization focused on recruiting current and former service members and police, has been criminally charged with conspiracy to interfere with Congress’ certification of the Electoral College votes. Members of the alleged conspiracy are accused of actively planning for the weeks before January 6 for violence and of carrying out an organized attack on the Capitol. Prosecutors recently testified in court documents that one of these accused, Thomas Caldwell, sent a message about the attempt to arrange for guns to be transported across the Potomac River to Washington.
Thompson was in the House Gallery when the rioters entered the Capitol, and the lawsuit says he could hear people trying to break into the room, calling the speaker Pelosi a “bitch” and saying they were in her wanted to get his hands on and refer to Vice President Pence for betraying President Trump. ‘According to the lawsuit, the 72-year-old lawmaker could not observe social distance and other measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 while taking shelter in a room with hundreds of other people, including two other members of Congress who later tested has. positive for the disease.
‘During all this time, plaintiff Thompson reasonably feared for his body
safety. While trapped inside the building, prosecutor Thompson feared for his life and was worried he would never see his family again, ” NAACP lawyers and a private law firm involved in the case, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, wrote in the complaint.
Thompson is asking for an unspecified amount of money from Trump and his co-defendants’ to punish the accused for practicing a joint and continued course of action and to prevent the accused and others from engaging in similar illegal acts in the future. ‘
Giuliani, a representative of the Oath Keepers, and an attorney representing Trump in the civil lawsuit previously filed on behalf of black voters, did not immediately return requests for comment.