The NAACP and Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS, 2nd District) are Suing Trump, alleging he Incited the Capitol Riot on Jan. 6th in Violation of a Reconstruction Era law commonly referred to as the Ku Klux Klan Act.
Filed in the Federal District Court of Washington, D.C., the Civil Complaint comes after the Trump was Acquitted by the Senate in his Second Impeachment Trial which was also focused on the Events of Jan. 6th. The Lawsuit also Names former New York City Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, and Two White Extremist Groups, the Proud Boys, and the Oath Keepers.
“You cannot move forward if you don't address the illegality of what took place, the treasonous act,” NAACP President, Derrick Johnson said. “If you try to move forward without holding people accountable, you only set yourself up [for] future activity that could possibly be successful in toppling our democracy. For African Americans, we see a long history of people not being held accountable … and if we don't hold people accountable, there becomes this entitlement that it's okay to cause harm and violate the law.”
Johnson said that the Insurrection of the Capitol was steeped in White supremacy, something that can’t be allowed to fester. “We also must recognize that if we allow these groups to become mainstream they won't be extremists anymore, but part of our reality,” Johnson said. “That's not a reality that this country can survive.”
Thompson, in a Statement, described the Trump's Support of the Rioters as “Gleeful.”
“Trump, of course, acts as a partial explanation,” the Southern Poverty Law Center said recently in its Annual “Year in Hate and Extremism” Report. “He undoubtedly emboldened the far right and, importantly, created heightened expectations.”
White Extremist and Hate Group Activity spiked during the Trump Presidency, a concerning Trend that the NAACP and other Civil Rights Organizations have consistently Warned against.
The Southern Poverty Law Center said that in the First Three years of Trump's Presidency, they noted “historically high hate group numbers.”
The Ku Klux Klan Act, passed in 1871, was the Third law in a Series of Legislation created by Congress to Slow the Violence against and Intimidation of Black Americans at the Hands of the White Hate Group following the Civil War. While much of the Law has since become Obsolete, several Parts have become Codified as a Statute, including the 42 U.S.C. 1985(1), the Provision listed in the Lawsuit. The Statute specifically Safeguards against Conspiracies meant “to prevent, by force, intimidation, or threat, any person from accepting or holding any office.”
Now a Private Citizen, Trump faces numerous Legal Challenges in addition to the Newly filed Suit.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Acknowledged this in a Speech Saturday shortly following Trump's Senate Acquittal in his Second Impeachment Trial.
“We have a criminal justice system in this country,” McConnell said. “We have civil litigation. And former presidents are not immune from being accountable by either one.”
According to the NAACP, additional Lawmakers, including Reps. Hank Johnson (D-GA, 4th District) and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ, 12th District), are expected to Join the Lawsuit.
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