February 16, 2021
The lawsuit accuses the former president of conspiring with two extremist groups to block the Electoral College vote count.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and the NAACP filed a lawsuit Tuesday against former President Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani, accusing them of conspiring with two extremist groups to block the presidential vote count by storming the U.S. Capitol.
The lawsuit, the first over the Capitol riot to name Trump, said the attack was “the intended and foreseeable culmination of a carefully coordinated campaign to interfere with the legal process required to confirm the tally of votes cast in the Electoral College.”
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Thompson and the NAACP said Trump, Giuliani, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers shared a common goal “of employing intimidation, harassment, and threats” to stop the vote count. The riot was “a direct, intended, and foreseeable result” of the conspiracy, it said.
Their suit invoked the Civil Rights Act of 1871, commonly known as the Ku Klux Klan act, which allows lawsuits against government officials for claims that they conspired to violate civil rights. It was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington by a law firm specializing in such cases, Cohen Millstein Sellers & Toll.
Read Congressman, NAACP Sue Trump and Giuliani Over Capitol Riot.