Supporters of Donald Trump forcibly break through the barriers surrounding the Capitol on Jan. 6, Washington.John Minchillo / AP
Seven police officers who were attacked and beaten during the assault on the United States Capitol have filed a lawsuit against former President Donald Trump on Thursday for encouraging the insurrection on January 6.
It also accuses the organizers of the Stop the Steal rally held that day in Washington and more than a dozen members of far-right groups of "committing acts of internal terrorism."
As the Justice Department and Congress investigate what happened, this lawsuit is part of a civil effort to hold the Republican legally responsible for the attack that left five dead and 140 officers injured.
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The lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington alleges that Trump “worked with white supremacists, violent extremist groups, and supporters of campaigns to violate the Ku Klux Klan [civil rights law] and commit acts of domestic terrorism in an unlawful effort to stay in power ".
The defendants include members of the extremist groups Proud Boys and Oath Keepers and Trump's friend and former adviser Roger Stone.
"Due to the illegal actions of the defendants, the plaintiffs were violently assaulted, spat on, gassed with tear gas, subjected to insults and racial epithets, and feared for their lives," the lawsuit reads.
In recent months, three lawsuits similar to those of the agents have been filed, but this is the first to allege that Trump worked in coordination with right-wing extremists and political organizers to promote the idea that electoral fraud had been committed in the elections that gave victory to Joe Biden. “The Plaintiffs and their fellow agents risked their lives to defend the Capitol from a massive and violent attack provoked and encouraged by the Defendants in an unlawful effort to use force, intimidation, and threats to prevent Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential elections ”.
On the previous lawsuits, Trump's lawyers have argued that their client has absolute immunity from lawsuits for actions taken while he was in office and his statements are protected by the First Amendment. “If you don't fight like hell, you won't have a country anymore. Let the weak go. This is the hour of force, ”the Republican told his thousands of followers that January 6.
After Trump set fire to the spirits of his thousands of supporters summoned in Washington to the shout of Save America, an alienated mob made their way to the Capitol.
About 800 people entered the building, devastating offices and facing blows from the police.
Many of them were armed with clubs, noxious gases, and other devices.
The lawsuit accuses the former president of having followed the insurrection on television and having refused to order the assailants to leave after "he personally had sent to the Capitol moments before."
Trump "encouraged and supported the attackers" at the most violent moment of the day, the lawsuit maintains.
Later, through a video, he asked them to go home.
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So far there are more than 500 defendants for the assault, with charges ranging from burglary to assault on police officers, to acts of vandalism.
The House committee that investigates what happened that day and in the previous months, requested this Wednesday the detailed records of the movements and meetings that Trump held on January 6.
The majority Democratic commission requested a series of documentation from seven federal agencies to investigate the attack and the role played by the Republican.
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