Kaptur joins lawsuit against Trump, Giuliani over Jan. 6 insurrection

U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo, has joined nearly a dozen other elected Congress members in suing former President Donald Trump, attorney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and several right-wing groups for allegedly conspiring to riot and storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. The lawsuit first was filed by U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, in February and "alleges that by preventing Congress from carrying out its official duties, Trump, Giuliani and the hate groups directly violated the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act," according to the NAACP. In a statement released by the NAACP on Wednesday, Kaptur wrote: "The events of January 6 were no accident. There must be consequences for those who contributed to the coordinated attempt to overturn a free and fair election and harm our democracy. This lawsuit is an important step in repairing the damage that has been done, and I am pleased to join so many of my colleagues in this fight." Other groups named as defendants are the neo-fascist Oath Keepers, Warboys LLC and Enrique Tarrio, the leader of both Warboys and the Proud Boys, though the Proud Boys disbanded earlier this year. According to the NAACP statement, congressional members were "prevented from carrying out their constitutional duties to certify the 2020 presidential election due to the violent mob that had overtaken the Capitol." "What we witnessed on January 6, 2021, was the climax of a meticulously organized coup incited by Donald Trump that placed Members of Congress and the integrity of our democracy in peril," NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said in a statement. "We witnessed Donald Trump chip away at our nation's civility and dignity with his failed leadership for the past four years. In his last act of desperation, he conspired with Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and Rudy Giuliani to stop the constitutional process of certifying the 2020 presidential election while also disenfranchising African-American voters who cast valid ballots." Also seeking to join the lawsuit along with Kaptur are Democratic U.S. Reps. Karen Bass, Barbara Lee and Maxine Waters, all of California; Steve Cohen of Tennessee; Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey; Veronica Escobar of Texas; Hank Johnson Jr. of Georgia; Jerrold Nadler of New York; and Pramila Jayapal of Washington state.