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Seven Capitol Police officers sue Trump, extremist group leaders over Jan. 6 riot

26 August 2021
Dan Ackermann

Seven Capitol Police officers filed a lawsuit against former President Trump, several of his associates and extremists group leaders on Thursday, alleging they organized a plot to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power that culminated into the violent Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Why it matters: The suit argues that Trump and the other defendants violated the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act, which in part prohibited conspiracies to overthrow the federal government.

  • The law prevents authorities from deprived a person of their constitutional rights, and the lawsuit alleges that Trump and his co-defendants violated this section of the law by attempting to overturn election results in cities and states with significant Black populations through false claims of election fraud.
  • The seven officers, five of whom are Black, contend that the defendants violated the D.C. Bias-Related Crimes Act of 1989 by committing criminal acts while motivated by political affiliation bias.
  • The lawsuit also implicates the Trump Campaign, members of the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers militia and Trump associates, like Roger Stone.

What they're saying: “This is probably the most comprehensive account of Jan. 6 in terms of civil cases,”Edward Caspar, a lawyer who is leading the suit for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, told the New York Times. “It spans from the former president to militants around him to his campaign supporters.”

  • "Because of Defendants’ unlawful actions, Plaintiffs were violently assaulted, spat on, tear-gassed, bear-sprayed, subjected to racial slurs and epithets, and put in fear for their lives," the lawsuit reads.
  • "Plaintiffs’ injuries, which Defendants caused, persist to this day," it continues.
  • It claim Trump knew "that the lives of members of Congress, police officers, and others were in jeopardy" during the riot and "ignored repeated requests to call off the attackers."

The big picture: The lawsuit is so far the largest civil effort to hold Trump and his associates accountable for the riot.

  • The officers are seeking compensatory and punitive damages, the amounts of which would be determined by a jury at trial.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.