WASHINGTON – Former President Donald Trump was indicted Tuesday on four counts tied to his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. This indictment has undeniable parallels to a federal civil rights lawsuit the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law filed on behalf of U.S. Capitol Police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on January 6, seeking accountability from the former president and other organizations and individuals responsible for the violent insurrection. The lawsuit, Smith v. Trump, argues that the attack on the Capitol violated the Ku Klux Klan Act and that the defendants sought to interfere with the election by employing intimidation tactics and spreading false claims.
The following is a statement from Damon Hewitt, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law:
“Today, America took a critical step toward securing justice and ensuring accountability of those responsible for the profoundly destructive and hateful Capital insurrection on January 6, 2021. The federal grand jury’s decision to indict Donald Trump on charges of obstructing the right to vote and having one’s vote counted gives us hope that no one is above the law, not even a former president. The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law has been actively engaged in efforts to ensure that Trump and others answer for their deliberate actions to undermine the will of the people. Our lawsuit against Trump and his alleged co-conspirators is the most comprehensive of its type, covering a breadth of illegal conduct, including some of the actions mentioned in today’s indictment. Similar to our lawsuit, the indictment alleges that Trump conspired to overturn the 2020 election by deliberately spreading false election fraud claims and inciting violence against members of Congress and the law enforcement officers whose job was to protect them, all in violation of federal civil rights law. This indictment further validates our case, which is now proceeding to discovery. With this new front now opened in the battle for accountability, we will be even more fervent in our efforts to bend the arc toward justice.”
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About the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law–The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to mobilize the nation’s leading lawyers as agents for change in the Civil Rights Movement. Today, the Lawyers’ Committee uses legal advocacy to achieve racial justice, fighting inside and outside the courts to ensure that Black people and other people of color have the voice, opportunity, and power to make the promises of our democracy real. For more information, please visit https://lawyerscommittee.org
