A Democratic parliamentarian on Tuesday, February 16, filed a civil complaint against former US President Donald Trump, his lawyer Rudy Giuliani and two far-right groups for their role in the murderous assault on Capitol Hill on January 6.
Read also: Assault on Capitol Hill: Trump acquitted by the Senate after a historic trial
House representative Bennie Thompson relies for his prosecution on a law enacted in 1871 to protect the rights of African Americans after the abolition of slavery (1865), particularly against extremist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan.
"
The defendants acted in concert to instigate and start a riot on Capitol Hill, by encouraging a rally to participate in or threaten a violent movement which put the complainant and other members of Congress in grave danger
" , is it written in the complaint of Thompson, head of the commission on homeland security.
In addition to Donald Trump and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani, she is also targeting two far-right groups, Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.
The assault on Capitol Hill, which left five dead, was born of "
a common project that the defendants had pursued since the
presidential
election
" of November 3, 2020, says Thompson, in his complaint filed with a federal court in Washington .
Donald Trump denied for months the victory of his Democratic rival Joe Biden.
And thousands of pro-Trump protesters gathered in Washington on January 6, when Congress was due to officially certify the results.
After a long speech by the Republican president, some of his supporters launched an assault on the Capitol, seat of Congress where parliamentarians were gathered.
On Saturday, Donald Trump was acquitted in the Senate after his political trial in the same case.
Senators were a majority - 57 out of 100 - to vote for the billionaire's conviction.
Including, notably, seven Republicans.
But it would have taken two-thirds of the upper house (67 votes) to reach a verdict of guilty, which could have been followed by a sentence of ineligibility.
The billionaire denies any responsibility in these events, and his lawyers stressed that he had, on one occasion during this speech, called for “
peaceful
”
demonstrations
.
Although he acquitted him in the Senate because he felt the upper house lacked the competence to try him, the powerful Republican leader Mitch McConnell himself, in the process, raised the threat of legal action. .
