Capitol police officers sue Trump over January 6 riot
Washington DC - Seven US Capitol officers have sued former President Donald Trump over the January 6 storming of the Capitol and his dangerous election falsehoods leading up to the riot.
The federal lawsuit said the deadly assault on the Capitol resulted in the "brutal, physical assault of hundreds of law enforcement officers." It named Roger Stone and the Trump campaign as defendants, as well as the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, a pair of far-right groups.
The 71-page suit, filed in federal court in Washington DC, said Trump "encouraged the use of force, intimidation, and threats to try to stop the Congressional count of electoral votes on January 6.”
The suit joined a trio of similar cases filed in recent months.
Some 140 cops – roughly half of them from the Capitol Police department – were wounded in the assault, according to authorities. Four police officers who were involved in the Capitol attacks have also died by suicide.
Before the attack, Trump gave a speech to his supporters in which he told them: “You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.”
Trump has never given up his baseless claims that he won the November presidential election. But he was forced to give up his Facebook and Twitter access after the stunning siege of the Capitol.
A spokesperson for Trump didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The suit filed Thursday claimed Trump violated the Ku Klux Klan Act, a 150-year-old federal civil rights act, as well as the DC Bias-Related Crimes Act. The court papers said the defendants’ efforts were awash in racism.
Lawyers for the officers said in the suit that the defendants "targeted false claims of election fraud at cities and states with significant Black populations."
The suit also noted that "after breaching the Capitol, the attackers paraded the Confederate flag and other symbols of white supremacy through the Capitol’s halls."
Cover photo: IMAGO / ZUMA Wire