Trump Sued By 7 Capitol Police Officers Over Jan. 6 Riot

Seven officers with the U.S. Capitol Police have filed a lawsuit against former President Donald Trump, his longtime adviser Roger Stone and members of far-right extremist groups including the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers militia, accusing them of conspiring to disrupt the congressional certification of the 2020 presidential election results on Jan. 6, 2021.

What Happened: The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, argues that Trump and his co-defendants violated the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, which includes a providing against promulgating violent conspiracies that would disrupt Congress’ constitutional duties.

It also charges the defendants with “bias-motivated acts of terrorism” — five of the seven officers are Black.

The lawsuit claimed Trump was aware “the situation at the Capitol was dire” but did not immediately condemn the rioters, but rather issued a video two hours after the breach of the Capitol in which he repeated his claims of a stolen election and told the members of the insurrection that he loved them.

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What Else Happened: This is the second lawsuit brought against Trump by U.S. Capitol Police officers. In March, Officers James Blassingame and Sidney Hemby, filed charges that claimed Trump "inflamed, encouraged, incited, directed and aided and abetted" the Capitol Hill rioters through his repeated claims of a stolen election.

The former president is also the subject of similar lawsuits brought by the NAACP, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL).

Trump has denied that he was responsible for the Jan. 6 violence, although his attorneys have yet to file responses to any of the lawsuits.

Photo: Gage Skidmore / Flickr Creative Commons.