U.S. Capitol Officers Sue Trump Over Deadly Jan. 6 Riots
Written by SOURCE on March 31, 2021
Donald Trump has another lawsuit on his hands.
According to legal documents obtained by Bloomberg, the former president is being sued by two U.S. Capitol officers who sustained multiple injuries during the Jan. 6 Capitol riots. Plaintiffs James Blassingame and Sidney Hemby argue Trump incited the violent siege that left five people, including a police officer, dead.
Blassingame and Hemby were reportedly on duty when the mob stormed the U.S. Capitol in the final weeks of Trump’s presidency. The riot was preceded by a D.C. rally in which the former president encouraged his supporters to go to the Capitol to protest the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential win.
“… You’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong,” Trump said. “We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated, lawfully slated. I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
A large crowd soon gathered outside the building and eventually forced their way in. Blassingame and Hemby say the rioters attacked them with chemicals like pepper spray and tear gas, which caused their eyes, throat, and skin to burn. In addition to the physical injuries, the plaintiffs claim they have suffered emotional distress since the Capitol riots.
Blassingame “is haunted by the memory of being attacked, and of the sensory impacts – the sights, sounds, smells and even tastes of the attack remain close to the surface,” the complaint reads. “He experiences guilt of being unable to help his colleagues who were simultaneously being attacked; and of surviving where other colleagues did not.”
Blassingame and Hemby are seeking unspecified monetary damages.
News of the complaint comes two weeks after Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell (CA-15), the former House impeachment manager, filed a lawsuit against Trump over the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. Swalwell accused Trump and his allies—including Donald Trump Jr. and Rudy Giuliani—of making “false and incendiary allegations of fraud and theft, and in direct response to the Defendant’s express calls for violence at the rally, a violent mob attacked the U.S. Capitol.”
Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, who represents Mississippi’s 2nd congressional district, filed a similar lawsuit back in February alongside the NAACP. The suit accuses Trump, Giuliani, and far-right groups.
“The carefully orchestrated series of events that unfolded at the Save America rally and the storming of the Capitol was no accident or coincidence,” the lawsuit reads. “It was the intended and foreseeable culmination of a carefully coordinated campaign to interfere with the legal process required to confirm the tally of votes cast in the Electoral College.”
