The Democratic congressman claims he directly instigated the violence.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington, DC, Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell on Friday indicted former President Donald Trump and some of his allies, including his son, Donald Trump Jr., Rudy Giuliani, and GOP Rep. alleged roles in the events leading up to and surrounding the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
In the 65-page lawsuit, Swalwell, who was a House impeachment manager during Trump’s second senate trial, alleges that they all directly incited the violence in the Capitol by issuing “a clear call to action” to which the crowd responded.
“Trump immediately instigated the violence in the Capitol that followed and then watched with approval as the building was inundated,” the lawsuit said.
“While Trump was instructing them to go to the Capitol, insurgents were already pushing their way through barricades, trying to break through the building, shooting Trump’s speech into a megaphone,” it says.
It also alleges that the defendants also violated federal laws, including DC’s anti-terrorism law.
Swalwell claims in the statement that the events at the Capitol were “a direct and foreseeable result of the unlawful actions of the defendants,” and in a statement on his Twitter account, Swalwell said they all bear responsibility for the injury and destruction that followed. .
As a direct and foreseeable consequence of the defendants ‘false and inflammatory allegations of fraud and theft, and in direct response to the defendants’ express calls for violence at the rally, a violent mob attacked the Capitol and stopped Congress from ending it. counting the votes of the electoral colleges. The mob was summoned, inflamed and incited by the defendants, and as such fully responsible for the injury and destruction that followed.
It is the second lawsuit of its kind seeking to hold the former president and his loved ones accountable for their actions leading up to and around January 6.
The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi, claimed in a lawsuit last month that Trump, Giuliani the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers conspired to violate the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act, which prohibits those designed to prevent Congress from carrying out its duties when they sparked the January 6 riot at the Capitol.