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Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) has filed suit against former President Trump and three others, including Donald Trump, Jr., Rudy Giuliani and Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) for allegedly inciting the January 6 riot at the Capitol. NBC’s Pete Williams joins ‘The News with Shepard Smith’ to report. For access to live and exclusive video from CNBC subscribe to CNBC PRO: https://cnb.cx/2NGeIvi
Rep. Eric Swalwell, one of the House prosecutors during Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial, filed a lawsuit Friday against the former president, alleging he incited the deadly invasion of the U.S. Capitol.
The civil lawsuit from Swalwell, D-Calif., also accuses Donald Trump Jr., Trump lawyer 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 President Joe Biden’s election victory, inciting the Jan. 6 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.
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 pro-Trump mob stormed the building, Trump held a rally outside the White House, where he repeated a slew of unfounded election-theft conspiracy claims and heaped pressure on Republicans to reject 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 persuade 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 complaint repeatedly points out that Giuliani declared, “Let’s have trial by combat!” in his speech to the pre-riot rally crowd on Jan. 6.
The lawsuit also cites comments made during that rally by Brooks. The Alabama congressman “told the crowd to start ‘kicking ass,‘” the court filing says, “and he spoke with reverence, at a purportedly peaceful demonstration, of how ‘our ancestors sacrificed their blood, sweat, their tears, their fortunes, and sometimes their lives,’ before shouting at the crowd ‘Are you willing to do the same?!’”
Swalwell’s lawsuit argues that Brooks “intended these words as a threat of violence or intimidation to block the certification vote from even occurring and/or to coerce members of Congress to disregard the results of the election.”
Brooks, in a statement to CNBC, said “I make no apologies whatsoever for fighting for accurate and honest elections.”
“In sum, I wear Communist-sympathizer Swalwell’s scurrilous and malicious lawsuit like a badge of courage,” Brooks’ statement said. “Under no circumstances will Swalwell, or any other Socialist, stop me from fighting for America.”
Swalwell’s legal action is the second lawsuit from a sitting member of Congress to blame Trump for inciting the deadly riot.
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