Category: lawsuit

Eric Swalwell Files Lawsuit Against Trump For Alleged Role In Capitol Riot

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

House impeachment manager Eric Swalwell has filed a lawsuit against former President Donald Trump for his alleged role in the Capitol riot on January 6th.

Swalwell (D-CA) becomes the second Democrat lawmaker to sue Trump for inciting the riot.

The suit also names Donald Trump Jr., Rudy Giuliani, and Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) as co-conspirators.

“The Defendants … convinced the mob that something was occurring that – if actually true – might indeed justify violence, and then sent that mob to the Capitol with violence-laced calls for immediate action,” the lawsuit alleges.

It also makes the incredibly specious claim that Trump “directly incited the violence at the Capitol.”

Even CNN seems skeptical of the chances for Swalwell succeeding, saying the lawsuit “could bump up against free speech protections for speakers at the rally” as well as immunity protections afforded a person who was serving as President at the time.

RELATED: Dem Congressman Files Lawsuit Against Trump For His Alleged Role In Capitol Riot

Swalwell’s Lawsuit Cites the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act

Representative Swalwell’s lawsuit references the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act which was passed in an effort to address, obviously, the KKK.

It prohibits violence or intimidation meant to prevent members of Congress or other federal officials from carrying out their constitutional duties.

Both the new lawsuit and one filed by Representative Bennie Thompson, the Democratic chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee last month, cite the Act.

“[Trump’s] gleeful support of violent white supremacists led to a breach of the Capitol that put my life, and that of my colleagues, in grave danger,” Thompson said at the time of his filing.

“It is by the slimmest of luck that the outcome was not deadlier.”

RELATED: Top Congressional Leader Calls For Eric Swalwell’s Removal From Congress After Report Links Him To Chinese Spy

Trump Spokesman Responds

Jason Miller, a Trump adviser, blasted Swalwell as a “low-life” with “no credibility.”

“Now, after failing miserably with two impeachment hoaxes,” Swalwell is attacking the President with yet another witch hunt,” Miller said.

Miller then took a jab at the California Democrat over his reported association with a Chinese spy.

“It’s a disgrace that a compromised Member of Congress like Swalwell still sits on the House Intelligence Committee,” he said.

A bombshell Axios report in December indicated that a woman by the name of Christine Fang “took part in fundraising activity for Swalwell’s 2014 re-election campaign” and that she interacted with the Congressman “at multiple events over the course of several years.”

Fang had served as a Chinese Intelligence operative with China’s Ministry of State Security.

Swalwell’s lawsuit goes on to allege that Trump “made clear he poses a risk of inciting future political violence.”

Brooks, also named in the litigation, blasted the effort as “frivolous.”

“Under no circumstances will Swalwell, or any other Socialist, stop me from fighting for America,” he insisted.

The post Eric Swalwell Files Lawsuit Against Trump For Alleged Role In Capitol Riot appeared first on The Political Insider.

Eric Swalwell files second major lawsuit against Trump, allies for inciting deadly Capitol siege

Posted on by Kerry Eleveld

Rep. Eric Swalwell filed a new lawsuit Friday in DC's federal District Court against Donald Trump and his closest allies for inspiring the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol that claimed five lives and injured more than 100 police officers. The second federal suit of its kind, it accuses Trump, Don Jr., Rudy Giuliani, and GOP Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama of violating federal civil rights and anti-terrorism laws by inciting the riot, aiding the rioters, and inflicting lasting emotional harms on members of Congress, according to CNN.

Last month, Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi filed a lawsuit against Trump, Giuliani, and the right-wing extremist groups the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys. Both lawsuits cite violations of a Reconstruction-era law designed to insulate Black Americans from intimidation by white supremacists. 

Swalwell, who was in the House chamber on Jan. 6 and later served as an impeachment manager, charges that the defendants incited the Capitol attack through their repeated claims that the election was stolen, their urging of supporters to attend the rally, and their specific encouragement of rally attendees to march to the Capitol and commit violence.

"Trump directly incited the violence at the Capitol that followed and then watched approvingly as the building was overrun," the lawsuit said. "The horrific events of January 6 were a direct and foreseeable consequence of the Defendants' unlawful actions. As such, the Defendants are responsible for the injury and destruction that followed."

Trump told rally attendees they must "show strength" and "fight like hell" and then directed them to "walk down Pennsylvania Avenue," while falsely telling his supporters that he would march with them to the Capitol.

Brooks told rally goers, "Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass."

Giuliani famously declared, "Let's have trial by combat!"—a reference to settling disputes through a personal battle between two opposing sides.

Naturally, Don Jr. offered rally goers the most dismal slogan of them all, but also literally threatened anyone who failed to act. "You can be a hero, or you can be a zero," he said at the rally. "If you're gonna be the zero, and not the hero, we're coming for you, and we're gonna have a good time doing it." Nice touch.

The lawsuit alleges, "The Defendants, in short, convinced the mob that something was occurring that—if actually true—might indeed justify violence, and then sent that mob to the Capitol with violence-laced calls for immediate action."

The defendants are all named in their personal capacities, forcing them to hire private attorneys and depriving them of hiding behind their public offices. As CNN notes, if either lawsuit proceeds, Trump and his allies would have to go through the discovery process and be subject to depositions—all of which could turn up fresh evidence about their personal involvement in the event.

Dem Congressman Files Lawsuit Against Trump For His Alleged Role In Capitol Riot

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

Representative Bennie Thompson, the Democratic chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, filed a federal lawsuit against former President Donald Trump for his alleged role in inciting a riot at the Capitol on January 6th.

The Mississippi lawmaker claims Trump conspired with attorney Rudy Giuliani and extremist groups to stop Congress from certifying President Biden’s Electoral College win, which in turn led to violence.

The suit accuses Trump of violating the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act which was passed in an effort to address the KKK and prohibits violence or intimidation meant to prevent members of Congress or other federal officials from carrying out their constitutional duties.

“January 6th was one of the most shameful days in our country’s history, and it was instigated by the president himself,” Thompson said in a statement.

“His gleeful support of violent white supremacists led to a breach of the Capitol that put my life, and that of my colleagues, in grave danger. It is by the slimmest of luck that the outcome was not deadlier.”

RELATED: Pelosi Wants ‘9/11-Type Commission’ To Investigate Capitol Riot

Trump Adviser Denies Allegations in Capitol Riot Lawsuit

The Associated Press reports that Thompson’s lawsuit is the first “of an expected wave of litigation over the Jan. 6 riot.”

A clear indication that, while Donald Trump is no longer in office, the Democrat party has no intention of working to make the lives of the American people better, and will continue to instead focus on the former President.

Jason Miller, a Trump adviser, dismissed the allegations being made in the lawsuit, pointing out that Trump had no role in organizing the rally.

He “did not incite or conspire to incite any violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6th,” Miller succinctly explained.

“President Trump has been acquitted in the Democrats’ latest impeachment witch hunt, and the facts are irrefutable,” Miller added.

RELATED: Lindsey Graham Says Mitch McConnell’s Anti-Trump Speech May Come Back To Bite Republicans

No Basis in Reality

Rep. Bennie Thompson’s lawsuit against Trump regarding the Capitol riot has little basis in reality, as there has been absolutely no proof that the rally and march in early January were inspired or motivated by white supremacy.

The problem is that Democrats link all Trump supporters to white supremacy and thus, in their minds, it must have been the motivating factor.

It simply couldn’t have had anything to do with opposing the electoral votes.

This, incidentally, is something Democrats have done over and over again both in 2017 and 2005.

Where were the lawsuits then against Democrats? Weren’t they, by this standard, clearly trying to prevent members of Congress from carrying out their constitutional duties and disenfranchising black supporters of Donald Trump and George W. Bush?

Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is doing her part to continue harassing Trump, announcing she plans to create an “outside, independent 9/11-type Commission” to investigate the Capitol riot.

These actions were practically inspired by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who in a post-impeachment tirade, suggested the former president “didn’t get away with anything, yet.”

“We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation,” McConnell said.

The post Dem Congressman Files Lawsuit Against Trump For His Alleged Role In Capitol Riot appeared first on The Political Insider.

Judge Rules Virginia Board Of Elections’ Rule About Late Absentee Mail-In Ballots Was Illegal

Posted on by LifeZette

In August of last year, a rule was made by the Virginia Board of Elections that would have allowed elections officials to count late mail-in ballots that arrived without a postmark up to three days after this past November’s presidential election. A judge reversed this on Monday, ruling that the board’s decision was illegal.

Virginia Judge Issues Ruling

Virginia Circuit Court Judge William Eldridge ruled that with this rule, the board violated state elections law, according to the Daily Caller. He issued an injunction that will stop Virginia from adopting this rule in future elections moving forward.

Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF), a legal group representing Frederick County electoral board member Thomas Reed in his case against the state mail-in ballot law, announced the judge’s decision.

“This is a big win for the Rule of Law,” said PILF President and General Counsel J. Christian Adams. “This consent decree gives Mr. Reed everything he requested – a permanent ban on accepting ballots without postmarks after Election Day and is a loss for the Virginia bureaucrats who said ballots could come in without these protections.”

Related: The Left And Deep State Eager To Turn ‘War On Terror’ Tools On The American People

Elections Board Reveals New Rule

On August 4 of last year, Virginia Board of Elections revealed the new rule, telling county boards that any ballots “received by the general registrar’s office by noon on the third day after the election … but does not have a postmark, or the postmark is missing or illegible” were not to be rendered invalid. A week later, the board added that these ballots should be counted.

Pilf fired back in October by filing a lawsuit against the board on the behalf of Reed, who claimed that this rule violated state law. The specific Virginia statute that he thinks it violated states, “Any absentee ballot returned to the general registrar after the closing of the polls on election day but before noon on the third day after the election and postmarked on or before the date of the election shall be counted.”

Related: Hillary Clinton, Pelosi Push Conspiracy Theory Suggesting Trump Updated Putin About The Capitol Riots, Demand 9/11-Style Investigation

The court agreed with Reed, issuing an order on October 28 preventing the state of Virginia from accepting and counting late absentee ballots that did not have postmarks. This meant that the ballots did not end up being counted in the presidential election, and thanks to the judge’s new ruling, they won’t be in the future either.

This piece was written by James Samson on January 27, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

Read more at LifeZette:
Katie Couric’s Calls To ‘Deprogram’ Trump Supporters Come Back To Haunt Her As She Prepares To Host ‘Jeopardy’
Democratic Senator Hirono Reveals Real Goal Behind Trump Impeachment Effort
Meghan McCain Blasts Katie Couric For Saying Republicans Need To Be ‘Deprogrammed’ – ‘Go To Hell’

The post Judge Rules Virginia Board Of Elections’ Rule About Late Absentee Mail-In Ballots Was Illegal appeared first on The Political Insider.