Congressman sues Trump over riot

The Democratic chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee accused former President Donald Trump in a federal lawsuit on Tuesday of inciting the deadly insurrection on Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol. The suit from Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., is part of an expected wave of litigation over the riot. It also names as defendants Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and several extremist groups that participated in storming the Capitol.

What are the grounds for the lawsuit? Thompson is suing under a provision of the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, which prohibits violence or intimidation meant to prevent Congress or other federal officials from carrying out their constitutional duties. The court complaint alleges the defendants carried out a carefully coordinated campaign to interfere with the legal process of confirming the tally of votes cast in the Electoral College. The Senate on Saturday acquitted Trump of charges of inciting the riot. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has called for a commission to investigate the circumstances leading to the insurrection and how the government should respond.

Dig deeper: Listen to Mary Reichard break down the arguments from Trump’s impeachment trial in the Washington Wednesday segment of The World and Everything in It podcast.