A Democratic congressman filed a lawsuit on Friday against former president Donald Trump, his son Donald Jr, his lawyer Rudy Giuliani and a Republican lawmaker for allegedly inciting the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
Trump, 74, and the other defendants waged a “campaign of lies and incendiary rhetoric” which led to the assault on Congress, Representative Eric Swalwell of California charged in the civil suit filed in a US District Court in Washington.
Another Democratic congressman, Representative Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, filed a similar suit against Trump last month.
Both suits cite a little-used law, the Ku Klux Klan Act, to make the case against the former president.
The 1871 rule was designed to prevent the white supremacist KKK from intimidating elected officials.
Trump, Donald Jr, Giuliani, and Representative Mo Brooks, a congressman from Alabama, all spoke at a rally that preceded the January 6 attack on Congress by Trump supporters seeking to block the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory.
“Unable to accept defeat, Donald Trump waged an all-out war on a peaceful transition of power,” Swalwell said in a statement announcing the lawsuit.
“He lied to his followers, again and again, claiming the election was stolen,” he said, “and finally called upon his supporters to descend on Washington DC to ‘stop the steal.’”
“The defendants assembled, inflamed and incited the mob, and as such are wholly responsible for the injury and destruction that followed,” Swalwell said.
The suit demanded unspecified monetary and punitive damages to be determined at a jury trial.
Swalwell was one of the impeachment managers for Trump’s trial in the Senate on the charge of inciting insurrection.
Trump was impeached by the Democratic-majority House of Representatives for his role in inciting the attack on the Capitol but acquitted by the Senate.
Thompson and the NAACP, a civil rights organization, filed suit against Trump, Giuliani and two right-wing groups, the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, last month.
Jason Miller, a Trump spokesman, responded to the latest lawsuit in a statement to The Washington Post. “Eric Swalwell is a low-life with no credibility,” Miller said.
-AFP
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Is Anthony Odiong still a priest after life in prison sentence over rape?")