NAACP, Congressman Thompson sue Trump over Capitol riot under the KKK Act on the heels of an acquittal by the U.S. Senate of Trump during an impeachment trial relative to the tragic Capitol riot.... By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's Black digital news leaders

 

NAACP President Derrick Johnson and U.S. Representative Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat

By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor in chief

 Clevelandurbannews.com and-Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com-Washington, D.C.- On the heels of a U.S. Senate  acquittal on Saturday of former president Donald Trump of a single impeachment article of inciting a riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan 6 that left five dead, including a Capitol police officer, the NAACP and U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, filed suit on Tuesday in the Federal District Court of the District of Columbia claiming the former president did, in fact, incite the Capitol riot. 

Several members of Congress are expected to sign onto the lawsuit in coming days, mainly Democrats. 

Also named as defendants in the 31-page lawsuit are Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, the far-right White supremacist group  the Proud Boys, and the militia group the Oath Keepers.

An uphill battle by most standards, the suit has been filed under the Ku Klux Klan Act, an 1872  statue designed to combat KKK-type violence and conspiracies that interfere with the congressional duties of Congress.

It alleges in part that Trump and Giuliani, Trump's personal attorney, conspired to stop Congress from doing its job of certifying the presidential election the day of the riot at issue and that his actions served to threaten and intimidate members of Congress.

“January 6th was one of the most shameful days in our country’s history, and it was instigated by the [former] president himself," Rep Thomson said in a statement on Tuesday."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."

NAACP President Derrick Johnson said that “Donald Trump needs to be held accountable for deliberately inciting and colluding with White supremacists to stage a coup, in his continuing efforts to disenfranchise African-American voters."

Trump's legal team said the former president did nothing to incite the riot and that he had immunity as the then president to speak out on issues of public concern leading up to the now infamous riot. 

Unlike a criminal proceeding, the bar is not as high in a civil suit, requiring that the plaintiffs prove Trump and the other defendants in the case are  guilty by a preponderance of the evidence rather than beyond a reasonable doubt.

After taking control of the Senate via last November's election, the Democrats now control the Senate, the House of Representatives and the White House but could not muster up the two-thirds majority needed to convict the former president following impeachment by the House of Representatives

The Democrats needed 17 Republicans for a conviction but got only seven pro-conviction votes from GOP senators. 

It was the second impeachment trial and a second acquittal for Trump, 74, a Republican and one term president ousted in last November's election by President Joe Biden, a Democrat who was vice president under former president Barack Obama, the nation's first Black president. 

The five-day trial that began on Feb, 9 did not draw the expected excitement and was overshadowed by a still raging coronavirus pandemic that has left millions dead across the country and worldwide.  

Congressional impeachment managers put on their case first as an array of Democratic congresspersons showed video of the deadly Capitol riot and gave commentary 

Protesters, whom Trump egged on during a fiery speech before the deadly siege on the Capitol, say the presidential election, in which Biden won both the electoral college and popular vote over Trump, was tainted, and stolen from the former president.

More than 200 people have been criminally charged relative to  the Jan. 6 insurrection. 

A real estate mogul and former television personality who upset Democrat Hillary Clinton to win the White House in 2016,Trump did not testify as his lawyer's defense on his behalf was that the constitution does not allow an impeachment conviction against a former president who has left office and that Trump's fiery speech leading up to the riot was constitutionally protected speech.

 Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and blog in Ohio and in the Midwest, and the most read independent digital news sites in Ohio. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.