Christina EweThe NAACP and Congressman Bennie Thompson of Mississippi filed a federal lawsuit charging that both President Trump and Rudy Giuliani incited the capitol riots on Jan 6th in violation of the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act, which prohibits violent conspiracies that interfere with the work of Congress. Congressman Bennie Thompson explained the importance of taking legal action to hold Trump accountable.
“January 6th was one of the most shameful days in our country’s history, and it was instigated by the President himself. His gleeful support of violent white supremacists led to a breach of the Capitol that put my life, and that of my colleagues, in grave danger. It is by the slimmest of luck that the outcome was not deadlier. While the majority of Republicans in the Senate abdicated their responsibility to hold the President accountable, we must hold him accountable for the insurrection that he so blatantly planned. Failure to do so will only invite this type of authoritarianism for the anti-democratic forces on the far right that are so intent on destroying our country,”
The lawsuit addresses the conspiratorial nature of the white supremacist attack on the Capitol, alleging that Trump and Giuliani worked with far-right white supremacist organisations ‘Oath Keepers’ and ‘Proud Boys’ in an attempt to prevent the certification of the election on January 6.
A member of the far-right Proud Boys charged in the Capitol riot blamed Donald Trump for his conduct, claiming he was “misled by the president’s deception” https://t.co/fEhGxREI9x
— Bloomberg (@business) February 10, 2021
The lawsuit details Giuliani’s efforts to disenfranchise Black voters in key states like Detroit where he advocated rejecting the vote from the city (73% African American). The NAACP and Congressman Bennie Thompson of Mississippi lawsuit attempt to hold President Donald J Trump, Rudy Giuliani, The Proud Boys and The Oath Keepers responsible for the white supremacist violent insurrection on January 6th. The lawsuit pushes back against attempts by the media to present the violent insurrectionists as goofy, confused, misled white folk. It alleges that Trump knew the violent nature of many of his followers and knowingly incited the rioters in an orchestrated attempt to hold on to power.
