CONGRESSMAN SUES TRUMP OVER RIOT
Civil lawsuit claims former president should be held liable
A House impeachment manager and intelligence subcommittee chairman filed a federal lawsuit Friday against former President Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Rudy Giuliani and Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., claiming they should be held liable for injuries and destruction caused by their incitement of the Jan. 6 mob assault on the Capitol.
Rep. Eric Swalwell, DCastro Valley, who also sits on the judiciary and homeland security committees, alleged Trump and his fellow speakers at a rally near the White House that day were directly responsible for mobilizing a crowd of tens of thousands of Trump supporters to march on the Capitol and priming them for violence.
Trump’s actions before and during the assault — in which at least 800 people broke into the Capitol, attacked police and delayed Congress’ confirmation of the presidential election results — “made clear he poses a risk of inciting future political violence,” the complaint alleged.
“As a direct and foreseeable consequence of the Defendants’ 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,” the 65-page suit asserted. “Many participants in the attack have since revealed that they were acting on what they believed to be former president
Trump’s orders in service of their country.”
The lawsuit claims the four speakers violated the Reconstruction-era Ku Klux Klan Act by conspiring to violently interfere in Congress’ constitutional duties and failing to act to stop the mob. It also accuses them of multiple counts of negligence under both federal and D.C. law, aiding and abetting, and infliction of emotional distress.
Trump spokesman Jason Miller said in a statement, “Eric Swalwell is a low-life with no credibility.” Miller then repeated allegations in an Axios report from December
that an alleged Chinese spy, Christine Fang, cozied up to Swalwell from 2012 to 2015 before he was briefed by U.S. intelligence officials about their concerns and cut off ties. Miller said “after failing miserably with two impeachment hoaxes,” Swalwell is engaging in a witch hunt on behalf of the Chinese.
Brooks in a statement called the suit frivolous and a “meritless ploy.”
“I make no apologies whatsoever for fighting for accurate and honest elections,” Brooks said.
The suit is the latest claim against Trump and top allies
to assert they had a role in the storming of the Capitol through their actions that day and weeks of baseless allegations that November’s presidential election was stolen from him.
The NAACP last month sued Trump, Giuliani and two extremist groups whose members have been accused of leading the violence at the Capitol — the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers — on behalf of Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. Guiliani, Trump’s campaign and others also face defamation claims related to their groundless post-election criticism of a former U.S.
election cybersecurity official and vote counting machine maker.
Thursday’s lawsuit paints a fuller picture of Trump’s actions before and after the event, drawing on the House impeachment manager’s case against the former president, suing under a wider theory of negligence. The suit does not focus on extremists who planned for violence but the “many more [who] were there for a political rally” before the defendants and others allegedly “whipp[ed] them into a frenzy and turn[ed] them into a violent mob that participated in the attack.”
“This is an important part of holding Trump — and the other defendants — responsible for what happened on January 6th,” said attorney Matthew Kaiser, speaking for three firms representing Swalwell, a House impeachment manager and Democratic Steering and Policy Committee co-chair.
Trump was acquitted last month in his second impeachment trial as 57 senators — seven Republicans and all 50 Democrats — voted to convict him of inciting the mob’s attack. A twothirds majority, 67 votes, was needed for a conviction. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., voted for acquittal but said afterward that there was “no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible.”
Thursday’s lawsuit noted that McConnell also said Trump was not immune from civil liability for the event, which left five dead and resulted in 139 assaults on police officers. Republican Whip Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., added that Trump could be held accountable “in a court of law.”
The suit recounts how Trump, Giuliani and the others exhorted listeners at a rally near the White House before the Jan. 6 attempted insurrection, with Giuliani calling for “trial by combat” and Trump saying he would join marchers down Pennsylvania Avenue to give lawmakers “the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.” Trump had repeatedly promoted the rally, posting on Twitter that it “will be wild!”
He praised participants afterward, tweeting: “Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!”
Federal COVID-19 relief funding could jump-start struggling businesses and restaurants and fuel a wartime production effort to manufacture vaccines, local congressional delegates said at a press conference in San Diego on Friday.
Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-San Diego, organized the event at Veterans Village with several other lawmakers, nonprofit executives and business owners, to discuss the American Rescue Plan legislation. Congress passed the $1.9 trillion aid package Saturday, and the Senate is expected to vote on it later this month.
The bill would dedicate $20 billion toward a nationwide vaccine program and $130 billion to reopening schools, Jacobs said.
It also would cut $1,400 relief checks for people in need, extend unemployment benefits, expand the Paycheck Protection Program to help small businesses make payroll, and deliver funds to local governments.
And it would contribute $40 billion toward child care and extend the child tax credit, in an effort to cut childhood poverty in half. Those benefits could help restore the San Diego economy, including small businesses that have struggled through the pandemic, Jacobs said.
“We have families struggling to balance child care and work, women being pushed out of the workforce at alarmingly high rates,” Jacobs said. “Health care, front-line workers, and nonprofits stretch beyond capacity to serve the community while worrying about their own health and safety. And our Black and Latino communities hit especially hard.”
Rep. Mike Levin, D-San Juan Capistrano, added that the bill would support the dining and hospitality industry, with $25 million for a restaurant revitalization fund.
He also said smaller cities in North County and elsewhere in the county would receive direct assistance through the bill, with $33.4 million slated for Oceanside, $26.6 million directed to Vista and $13.3 million going to Carlsbad.
“This funding is desperately needed to keep our cities moving forward in a positive direction, and to keep their employees, particularly their front-line workers, on the job,” he said.
Rep. Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, said the legislation also allocates $10 billion to ramp up manufacturing. It would include $4 billion to build up state-of-the-art production facilities to produce 100 million vaccine doses per month, and $1 billion to stockpile raw materials and supplies needed to manufacture vaccines in the U.S.
The bill also would add $3 billion to expand domestic production of personal protective equipment, such as N95 masks, and $2 billion to boost U.S. production of COVID-19 test kits, Vargas said.
Another $1.75 billion would allow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to increase genomic testing of virus samples, said Rep. Scott Peters, D-San Diego.
“We have to survey at least 15 percent of cases to better capture and understand the new and emerging variants,” Peters said. “Genomic sequencing can help us understand how the virus is spreading, and if the vaccines and therapeutics we’ve developed will continue to be effective.”
Jacobs said spending outlined in the plan could rebuild the U.S. economy over the next year and create 7.5 million jobs in 2021.
“And let’s be clear, this isn’t about going back to the way things were, which for too many families wasn’t working,” she said. “It’s about reimagining and building a new normal, where every family has dignity and opportunity, and our economy actually works for everyone.”