The Democratic congressman alleges that he directly incited violence.
In a lawsuit filed Friday in federal court in Washington, DC, Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell has sued former President Donald Trump and some of his allies, including his son, Donald Trump Jr., Rudy Giuliani and Republican Party Representative Mo Brooks. alleged functions in the events that led to the assault on the Capitol on January 6 and surrounded it.
In the 65-page lawsuit, Swalwell, who was the House’s dismissal manager during the second trial in Trump’s Senate, alleges that everyone directly incited violence at the U.S. Capitol by making a “clear call to the ‘action’ to which the crowd responded.
“Trump directly incited the violence in the Capitol that followed and then watched with approval as the building was invaded,” the lawsuit states.
“While Trump instructed them to go to the Capitol, the insurgents were already forcing their way through barricades, trying to break into the building, while firing Trump’s speech with a megaphone,” he says.
He also claims the defendants also violated federal laws, including the DC Anti-Terrorism Act.
Swalwell alleges in the file that the events at the Capitol “were a direct and foreseeable consequence of the defendants’ illegal actions” and, in a statement posted on his Twitter account, Swalwell said everyone is responsible for subsequent injury and destruction.
As a direct and foreseeable consequence of the false and incendiary allegations of fraud and theft, and in direct response to the defendants’ express calls for violence at the rally, a violent mob attacked the U.S. Capitol and stopped the count. of the Congress of the votes of the electoral colleges. . Defendants rallied, inflamed and incited the crowd and, as such, are fully responsible for the subsequent injuries and destruction.
It is the second such lawsuit trying to hold the former president and his relatives accountable for their actions until and around Jan. 6.
The chairman of the National Security Committee of the House, Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi, alleged in a lawsuit last month that Trump, Giuliani, the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, conspired to violate the Ku Klux Act Klan of 1871, which forbids any action intended to prevent Congress from fulfilling its functions, when they provoked the January 6 revolt in the Capitol.