Seven Capitol Police officers are suing former President Donald Trump and several others for spreading unfounded claims of widespread fraud in the president election ahead of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
The lawsuit implicates members of militia groups such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, and Trump as well as some of his associates such as Roger Stone.
The New York Times notes that it is “arguably the most expansive civil effort to date seeking to hold Mr. Trump and his allies legally accountable for the storming of the Capitol.”
Edward Caspar, a lawyer who is leading the suit for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, told the paper, “This is probably the most comprehensive account of Jan. 6 in terms of civil cases.”
“It spans from the former president to militants around him to his campaign supporters,” he added.
Additionally, the Times notes that it is the first to allege that the former president “worked in concert with both far-right extremists and political organizers promoting his baseless lies that the presidential election was marred by fraud.”
The lawsuit claims that Trump and other defendants violated the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871.
The Washington Post explains that the law “made it a federal crime to use ‘force, intimidation, or threat’ to infringe on people’s rights to vote, hold office, testify in court and serve on a jury.”
It notes that as early as May 2020, the former president starting claiming there would be widespread fraud in the election.
The officers also recall that in a presidential debate, Trump said members of the Proud Boys should “stand back and stand by.”
They claim that on Jan. 6, Stop the Steal activists whipped up Trump supporters and that the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers “led the mob on the ground in the Capitol assault.”
As for Trump, the officers allege he knew “the situation at the Capitol was dire” but waited two hours to release a video and that he repeated his unfounded claim of fraud in it.
Despite the former president’s claims of widespread fraud, several recount and legal challenges did not change the outcome of the results.
