Seven police officers from the Washington Capitol have filed a lawsuit against former United States President Donald Trump. According to them, Trump, in conjunction with far-right groups, provoked an attack on the parliament building on January 6. Four people have died in the violence surrounding the inauguration of radical supporters of the outgoing Republican president to Congress.
Police in a lawsuit filed in Washington federal court claim that the attack was the culmination of months of Trump’s statements, which he knew had the potential to provoke violence. He allegedly actively encouraged this in the hope that it would stop the confirmation of Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election.
The lawsuit alleges that Trump conspired with the extremist organizations The Proud Boys and The Oathkeepers, as well as far-right leaders Roger Stone and Ali Alexander, who called for Trump’s speech at the White House before the attack on the Capitol.
“Trump, in collaboration with other defendants, deliberately and persistently made and incited false allegations of electoral fraud in order to discredit the election results and falsely incite outrage among his supporters,” the lawsuit said.
The case is the latest in a series of civil lawsuits to force Trump to account for the siege of the Capitol by an enraged mob of supporters. Democratic Congressmen Eric Swalwell and Bennie Thompson have previously filed similar lawsuits against Trump over January 6 violence.
In the past, Trump defended himself by saying that his actions were covered by the protection of freedom of speech guaranteed by the First Amendment to the US Constitution and that he could not be tried under civil law because he was acting under the presidency on January 6.
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