Dem sues Trump over riot at Capitol
A House Democrat who unsuccessfully prosecuted Donald Trump at his impeachment trial sued him in federal court Friday for acts of terrorism and incitement to riot, trying to use the justice system to punish the former president for his role in the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.
The suit brought by Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., accuses Trump and key allies of whipping up the deadly attack and conspiring with rioters to try to prevent Congress from formalizing President Joe Biden’s victory.
Echoing the case laid out in the Senate, which acquitted him, it meticulously traces a monthslong campaign by Trump to undermine confidence in the 2020 election and then overturn its results, using his own words and those of his followers who ransacked the building to narrate it.
“The horrific events of Jan. 6 were a direct and foreseeable consequence of the defendants’ unlawful actions,” Swalwell says in the civil suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington.
Although not a criminal case, the suit charges Trump and his allies with several counts, including conspiracy to violate civil rights, negligence, incitement to riot, disorderly conduct, terrorism and inflicting serious emotional distress. If found liable, Trump could be subject to compensatory and punitive damages; if the case proceeds, it might also lead to an open-ended discovery process that could turn up information about his conduct and communications that eluded impeachment prosecutors.
In addition to the former president, the suit names as defendants his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.; his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani; and Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., who led the effort to overturn Trump’s election defeat when Congress met Jan. 6 to formalize the results.
All three men joined Trump in promoting and speaking at a rally in Washington that day, which Swalwell says lit the match for the violence that followed with baseless lies about election fraud.
In a statement, Jason Miller, an adviser to Trump, blasted Swalwell as a “a lowlife with no credibility” but did not comment on the merits of the case.
Brooks rejected the claims, saying he would wear Swalwell’s “scurrilous and malicious lawsuit like a badge of courage.”