If it goes ahead, it would mean that the former president and others would be subject to search and deployment, revealing possible details and evidence that were not released during the Senate impeachment hearing.
Thompson pointed to Trump’s words and tweets in the months leading up to the revolt, accusing Trump and Giuliani of rallying their supporters and preparing for their attack to prevent them from certifying the 620 January 2020 election results.
The lawsuit cites extraordinary federal laws passed after the Civil War that were intended to combat violence from the Ku Klux Klan; It allows civil action against those who use “force, intimidation or intimidation” to prevent anyone from maintaining their office fee duties.
The NAACP is supporting the lawsuit and helping Thompson appear in court.
“As part of this consolidated plan to prevent the Electoral College from counting votes,” the lawsuit states, “Defendants Proud Boy and Ath Th Keepers, through their leadership, worked in concert to advance the attack on the Capitol while the angry crowd defended. The carefully orchestrated series of events surrounding the U.S. Save Rally and the Capitol Storm was not an accident or coincidence. Careful coordination was the objective and inexplicable culmination of the campaign to intervene in the legal process.
The former president and many Republicans argue that the impeachment hearing is unconstitutional because he is no longer in office. As such, Thompson takes note of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s speech Saturday where Kentucky Republicans are pushing for a lawsuit against Trump.
“We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have a civil lawsuit,” McConnell said after the vote to acquit Trump. “And former presidents are not immune to being held accountable by either.”
CNN Trump and Giuliani’s lawyers have been interviewed to comment on the lawsuit.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been briefed on the lawsuit, a source told CNN.
Says Trump’s words provoked riots
Thompson’s claim is linked to threats of violence against elected officials such as Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, with Trump’s repeated refusal to accept the election results in the weeks following November, accusing Trump of supporting threats rather than denouncing them. The lawsuit also alleges that Trump’s refusal to directly condemn the boy of pride during the first presidential debate in September encouraged his violent plans until Jan. 6.
The lawsuit is directly linked to Trump’s hours-long rally at the Capitol the day before, where the former president told his supporters, “… if you don’t fight like hell, you won’t come to the country anymore.”
“You have to show strength, and you have to be strong,” Trump said.
Giuliani, who is also accused, also continued to talk about the futile allegations of widespread voter fraud on Jan. 6 and told supporters: “Let’s have a hearing by combat.”
The lawsuit alleges Trump delayed the delivery of his speech to a crowd in the Ellipse in January, a way for the Pride Boys to reach the capital and control the police presence there, although there was no evidence that Trump’s speech was delayed or that any delay was intentional.
In addition to Trump and Giulia, the names of the proud boys and Oth Keepers are defendants in the lawsuit.
Some members of these far-right groups have been charged with involvement in the riots. The Justice Department has so far indicted more than a dozen proud boys for rioting in the Capitol, and recently brought conspiracy charges against a group of five people associated with the group. The DOJ also indicted three members of the Oath Keepers in late January, including one member, Jessica Watkins, whose attorney told a judge last week that she believed she was following Trump’s instructions.
KKK law
The legal clauses of the case may lead to a fight in the court on a hill, as the KK law has not been widely used.
“It was specifically to provide a federal civil remedy for federal officials who were prevented from performing their duties by two or more individuals, whether federal civil marshals in the Civil War South, non-reconstituted federal judges in lower courts, or federal legislators,” the university said. Stephen Vladek, a professor at the University of Texas Law and a Supreme Court analyst, explains.
“It’s not hard to see that the provision maps maps on what happened in January – how, clearly, two or more people conspired to prevent a joint session of Congress from carrying out the constitutional act of certifying President Biden’s Electoral College victory. The tough question is. Whether Trump himself can join the conspiracy, “Vladek said.
Attorney Joseph Sellers, representing Attorney Mpson, said the specific purpose of the law was to remedy attempts to interfere with congressional duties.
“The fact is that there is very little undo [involving this section of the statute] The vendors said it was a reflection of how extraordinary the events were that gave birth to the lawsuit.
Other members of Congress, including the Democratic Rep. Hank Johnson of Georgia and Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey, intend to join the lawsuit as prosecutors.
“While a majority of Republicans in the Senate relinquished their responsibility to hold the president accountable, we should hold him accountable for the irritability he caused,” Thompson said in a statement. “Failure to do so will only invite this kind of dictatorship for the anti-democratic forces of the country which are aimed at destroying our country.”
This story has been updated with additional details of the lawsuit.
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