Seven officers from the United States Capitol Police department are suing Donald Trump, Roger Stone, and various members of far-right extremist groups.
Per USA Today, the officers have accused Trump, his former adviser Roger Stone, and groups such as Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers of pushing conspiracy theories that led to the violence on Jan. 6 at the Capitol. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Thursday, with 18-year Capitol Police veteran and Navy veteran Jason DeRoche leading the way. On Jan. 6, he was attacked with bear spray, pepper spray, and fire extinguishers by the mob attacking the Capitol, resulting in injuries that included a swollen eye.
“We don't want something like this happening ever again," said DeRoche, who added that Trump, his cohorts, and these hate groups need to be held accountable. The other six officers involved in the lawsuit are also veterans of the Capitol force, serving between 13 to 35 years at the department each. On Jan. 6, many of these officers were assaulted by Trump supporters who hoped to violently overturn the results of the 2020 election. Trump, it must be noted, was banned from multiple social media services after he was accused of instigating the violence by sowing doubts over the integrity of the election.
In the lawsuit, the defendants have been accused of violating the federal Ku Klux Klan Act, which has been cited in other lawsuits related to the events that took place on Jan. 6. Notably, far-right groups the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers were at the forefront of the “Stop the Steal” conspiracy theory, which gained major traction in the days leading up to Jan. 6.
Trump refused to accept the results of the election for quite some time, and he did not show up at Joe Biden’s inauguration later that month.
"These officers risked their lives and were brutally attacked defending the right of every citizen to a government of their choosing," said the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law senior counsel member Edward Caspar. "If they didn't do what they did that day—if they didn't have the courage to stand up—I don't know that we'd be living in a democracy today."
