Trump, Giuliani sued by Democrat Bennie Thompson for inciting US Capitol riot

Former US President Donald Trump and his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani have been accused of conspiring to incite the US Capitol riot, in a legal action filed under a historic law known as the Ku Klux Klan Act. As per reports, the lawsuit was brought on Tuesday by Democrat Bennie Thompson of Mississippi and the eminent civil rights organisation the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). 

Thompson sued Trump and Giuliani just three days after the former US President was acquitted by the Senate on a charge of inciting the January 6 insurrection. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell voted to acquit to point out that the US Presidents are “not immune” to being held accountable by criminal or civil litigation. However, the suit reportedly alleges that Trump, Giuliani and the extremist groups including the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers conspired to incite the attack on the US Capitol with an aim to prevent the Congress from certifying election victory of US President Joe Biden.

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What are the arguments in the suit?

Thompson has argued in the lawsuit that the defendants violated a law often referred to as Ku Klux Klan Act that was passed in 1871. It was in response to Klan violence and intimidation preventing the members of Congress in the Reconstruction south from carrying out their constitutional duties. According to 1909-founded NAACP, the statue was designed to safeguard the nation against conspiracies. 

Joseph Sellers, who is with the Washington law firm Cohen Milstein and filed the lawsuit on behalf of Thompson told the Associated Press, “Fortunately, this hasn’t been used very much. But what we see here is so unprecedented that it’s really reminiscent of what gave rise to the enactment of this legislation right after the civil war.”

Bennie Thompson was one of the many congressmen who donned gas masks and were rushed to shelter in an office building during the riot last month. The US Capitol attack claimed the lives of at least five people including a police officer. Even when the Senate voted to acquit former US President, Thompson took to Twitter to declare it a “sad day” for democracy.

Of Trump acquittal, the Democratic Congressman said, “This is a sad and appalling day for our democracy, but this will not deter us from achieving a better America.”

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