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Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani, the former president’s personal lawyer, have been accused of conspiring to incite a violent riot on the U.S. Capitol, in a lawsuit filed under a landmark law known as name of Ku Klux Klan Act.
The lawsuit was brought on Tuesday by Democratic Congressman Bennie Thompson of Mississippi and prominent civil rights organization, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Three days after Trump’s acquittal by the US Senate for incitement to insurgency on January 6, only minority leader Mitch McConnell, who voted for the acquittal, points out that presidents are “out of the question. ‘shelter’ from being held accountable. through criminal or civil litigation.
The lawsuit alleges that Trump, Giuliani, and extremist groups the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers conspired to incite an attack on Capitol Hill in an effort to prevent Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election.
He argues that they therefore violated a law often referred to as the Ku Klux Klan law, passed in 1871 in response to Klan violence and intimidation preventing members of Congress in Reconstruction South from carrying out their duties. constitutional obligations. The NAACP, founded in 1909, says the statute was designed to protect against conspiracies.
Joseph Sellers, an NAACP attorney who filed the lawsuit on Thompson’s behalf, told The Associated Press: “Fortunately, it hasn’t been used much. But what we see here is so unprecedented that it is very reminiscent of what led to the enactment of this law just after the Civil War.
Thompson, who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, was among members of Congress who donned gas masks and were transported to safety in an office building during the January 6 chaos, in which five people died. Members of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers have been accused of participating in the riot.
Thompson said in a statement that “Trump’s cheerful support for violent white supremacists has led to a Capitol violation that has put my life, and the lives of my colleagues, in grave danger. It is luck that the result was not more deadly.
“While the majority of Republicans in the Senate have abdicated their responsibility to hold the president accountable, we must hold him accountable for the insurgency he so openly planned. Failure to do so will only invite this kind of authoritarianism for the anti-democratic far-right forces that are so determined to destroy our country.
Filed in Washington Federal District Court on Tuesday, the lawsuit represents a massive effort by Trump and Giuliani to undermine the election outcome despite state officials and courts dismissing their bogus fraud claims. Both men described the election as stolen as Trump “approved rather than discouraged” threats of violence from his supporters leading to the attack on Capitol Hill, the lawsuit says.
“The carefully orchestrated series of events that unfolded during the Save America rally and the capture of the Capitol was neither an accident nor a coincidence,” he continues. “It was the anticipated and predictable culmination of a carefully coordinated campaign to interfere with the legal process required to confirm the electoral college vote count.”
Presidents are usually shielded from the courts for actions taken in power, but the latter focuses on Trump in his personal rather than official capacity. Seeking unspecified punitive and compensatory damages, he alleges that none of the behavior at issue relates to Trump’s responsibilities as president.
The vendors explained, “Inciting a riot, or attempting to interfere with Congress’ efforts to ratify the election results which are lauded by the constitution, could not be within the ordinary responsibilities of the president. In this regard, because of his conduct, he is like any other private citizen.
Trump faces a potential number of lawsuits now that he has lost the legal protections of his post. Additional actions could be brought by other members of Congress or police officers injured in the riot, a prospect acknowledged by the White House on Tuesday.
Jen Psaki, the press secretary, told reporters that Biden “certainly supports the rights of individuals, members of Congress and others, to take action through the legal process, but I don’t think we have another comment on this ”.
She added: “I am not going to speculate on the criminal prosecution from the White House podium. The president has pledged to have an independent Justice Department that will make its own decision on the way forward.
Trump’s defense attorneys should argue that his speech was protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution and point out that in a January 6 speech he told his supporters to behave “peacefully.”
Jason Miller, an adviser to Trump, said in a statement that Trump did not organize the rally that preceded the riot and “did not incite or conspire to incite violence on Capitol Hill on January 6.”
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