A federal lawsuit alleging that former President Donald Trump, his attorney and far-right extremists in the Capitol conspired to deprive Americans of their civil rights by disrupting the count of Joe Biden’s election college victory with the January 6 riot. .
Attorneys for the NAACP, who filed the case on behalf of Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) will file an amended complaint Wednesday, adding 10 new prosecutors, two people familiar with the case, say. The new prosecutors will also include other members of Congress, and the amended complaint would include additional information about the deadly January 6 riot in Washington, DC, accused of incitement by then-President Trump and his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, the government said. sources. added.
The addition of new plaintiffs was the first reported by The New York Times on Tuesday.
Thompson’s lawsuit, originally filed in February, accuses Trump of violating the more than a century-old Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, making it a federal crime to “ conspire to prevent, with violence, intimidation, or threat ” that officers hold office or perform their official duties.
Thompson cited the far-right groups the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys as defendants alongside and alleged co-conspirators alongside Trump.
Trump named Jesse Binnall, a veteran of his campaign’s legal team and former National Security Adviser General Mike Flynn’s defense team, to represent him in the lawsuit.
The expansion of the Thompson suit comes as Trump’s post-presidency legal troubles intensify, even as his party and the Conservative movement have tried to move forward from the riot and kill as a result of the January 6 uprising as soon as possible.
Two Capitol Police officers, James Blassingame and James Hemby, filed a federal lawsuit against Trump in late March for injuries sustained as a result of their service in the Capitol on Jan. 6. The two officers, both veterans of the Capitol Police for more than a decade, claim that Trump “ignited, encouraged, exhorted, led, and directed the” rebellious mob “that attacked the Capitol on January 6 and caused the injuries of both men. helped and supported “.
Blassingame says he has had head and back pain, as well as bouts of depression as a result of his shift during the attack, and Hemby says he is under the care of an orthopedist. for injuries to his head and back by rioters.
Trump has yet to respond to the lawsuit or identify a lawyer who will represent him in that lawsuit.
The former president is also facing a lawsuit from Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) who defeated Trump, his son Don Jr. and Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) has been accused of entering into a civil rights conspiracy by allegedly instigating the January 6 riot.
All of the lawsuits are part of a growing parade of criminal investigations and lawsuits over a variety of cases that haunted Trump, his family, his business empire, and his close associates in the months since the end of his presidency. In recent weeks, the ex-president has complained privately that his enemies will investigate me and “sue me for the rest of my life.”