Congressman Eric Swalwell, one of the House’s impeachment managers, filed a lawsuit against former President Trump saying he should be held financially responsible for the destruction on January 6, when a pro-Trump crowd stormed the Capitol.
The California Democrat filed a 65-page lawsuit in the United States District Court in Washington, DC on Friday against Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr., his lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Republican MP Mo Brooks, accusing them of inciting the January 6 riot and demanding that they be held responsible in court for the ensuing suffering.
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“The Defendants rallied, ignited and incited the crowd and, as such, are entirely responsible for the injuries and destruction that followed,” Swalwell said in a statement on the lawsuit.
Swalwell’s lawsuit alleges nine charges against Trump and others ranging from conspiracy to violate civil rights to intentional infliction of emotional suffering in Swalwell.
The lawsuit does not specify the amount of money and punitive damages that Swalwell is seeking. He’s demanding a jury trial.
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Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump, attacked Swalwell in a statement to Fox News over the congressman’s calls with an alleged Chinese spy, known as Fang Fang or Christine Fang. Federal authorities alerted Swalwell about Fang’s activities around 2015 in a defensive briefing, Axios reported for the first time.
“Eric Swalwell is a villain with no credibility who was caught ‘dating’ the Chinese spy Fang-Fang and makes disgusting body noises on national television,” Miller said in a statement. “Now, after failing miserably with two impeachment frauds, ‘Mr Fang-Fang’ is following the orders of his Chinese masters and attacking our greatest president with yet another witch hunt. It is a shame that a committed member of Congress like Swalwell still sits on the House Intelligence Committee. “
Swalwell was on the team of House Democrats who processed the impeachment case against Trump earlier this year on a charge of inciting an insurrection. Trump was acquitted by the Senate.
Trump’s legal team argued that the former president’s comments at a rally before the January 6 violence started did not incite the riot and Trump specifically asked supporters to march “peacefully and patriotically” to the Capitol.
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Swalwell is not the first member of Congress to sue Trump for the January 6 riot. Deputy Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., Filed a lawsuit in February alleging that Trump instigated the violence that prevented Congress from certifying the victory of President Biden’s Electoral College.
“His cheerful support for violent white supremacists led to a violation of the Capitol that put my life, and that of my colleagues, in grave danger,” Thompson said last month as he filed his lawsuit.