Impeachment manager Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., is seen during a break on the third day of the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump on Thursday, February 11, 2021.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
Rep. Eric Swalwell, one of the House prosecutors during Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial, filed a lawsuit Friday against the former president for inciting the Jan. 6 invasion of the U.S. Capitol.
The civil lawsuit from Swalwell, D-Calif., also accuses Trump’s oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., as well as Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., of being “wholly responsible for the injury and destruction” caused by the mob.
Swalwell’s 65-page lawsuit accuses the defendants of conspiring to block Biden’s win, inciting the riot, aiding and abetting common-law assault, committing bias-related crimes, intentionally inflicting emotional distress and negligence.
The congressman demands a trial by jury in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
The Senate last month acquitted Trump of one article of inciting the insurrection at the Capitol, which resulted in five deaths and forced a joint session of Congress into hiding.
Before the crowd of Trump’s supporters stormed the building, Trump held a rally outside the White House, where he repeated a string of unfounded election-theft conspiracies and heaped pressure on Republicans to reject President Joe Biden’s victory. Trump Jr., Giuliani and Brooks also spoke at the “Stop the Steal” rally.
House managers, led by Jamie Raskin, D-Md., argued that Trump directly fomented the violence exhibited by his supporters. They failed to convince two-thirds of the Senate, which is split between Republicans and Democrats, to vote to convict the former president.
Asked for comment on the lawsuit, Trump spokesman Jason Miller replied with a string of insults about Swalwell and accused him of “attacking our greatest President with yet another witch hunt.”
Giuliani did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on the suit.
Swalwell’s legal action is the second lawsuit from a sitting member of Congress to blame Trump for inciting the deadly riot.
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and the NAACP last month filed their own suit against Trump and Giuliani, accusing them of conspiring to stop Congress from confirming Biden’s win.
Both lawsuits cite sections of the “Ku Klux Klan Act” of 1871, intended to protect against political violence and intimidation.
Read Swalwell’s legal complaint against Trump, Trump Jr., Giuliani and Brooks:
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