Ten US congressmen who were on Capitol Hill when the building was stormed by supporters of former President Donald Trump on January 6 have joined the lawsuit filed against the former president and his former personal attorney Rudy Giuliani for inciting the violence.
Specifically, the lawsuit, originally filed by House member Bennie Thompson and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), accuses Trump and Giuliani of conspiring with the groups. extremists Proud Boys and Oath Keepers to instigate the assault.
The brief details the personal stories of each congressman while they were on Capitol Hill on January 6, describing how they escaped the mob and that, months later, some continue to have nightmares and anxiety.
“I was sitting in my office on January 6 when rioters began to walk down the hallways, I feared for my life and thought I was going to die,” Tennessee House member Steve Cohen said in a statement.
“The invasion was a direct result of the words and rhetoric of Donald Trump,” he has made ugly, before underlining that the magnate’s calls for his supporters to go to the capital, Washington, on the appointed date and his message of “being strong “thwarted” the operation “of the United States Constitution.
In the brief, Cohen reveals that he escaped from Trump supporters by heading to his office and sitting there with the lights off and a baseball bat in hand to protect himself for “two or three hours.”
In addition to Cohen, the lawsuit has been joined by Congressmen Karen Bass (California); Bonnie Watson Colema (New Jersey); Verónica Escobar (Texas); Han Johnson Jr. (Georgia); Marcy Kaptur (Ohio); Barbara Lee (California); Jerry Nadler (New York); Pramila Jayapal (Washington); and Maxine Waters (California).
Trump supporters stormed the Capitol as Congress was holding a joint session to ratify Joe Biden’s victory in the November 3 presidential election. The former president repeatedly rejected the election result, stating that a “fraud” had taken place, although without providing evidence in this regard.
The incident left five dead. At least 280 people have been arrested for allegedly being involved in the assault on the Capitol and charges have been brought against more than 300.
