Former President Donald Trump has been served a wrongful death lawsuit from the longtime partner of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died a day after the Capitol riot, WUSA9 reports.
The lawsuit accuses Trump and his allies of spreading disinformation and inflammatory rhetoric that helped spark the riot on Jan. 6, 2021, which Sandra Garza alleges led to the death of Sicknick. A medical examiner found that Sicknick died of natural causes. However, the U.S. Capitol Police released a statement saying that the medical examiner's finding "does not change the fact Officer Sicknick died in the line of duty, courageously defending Congress and the Capitol."
Garza is also suing Julian Khater and George Tanios, who were sentenced Friday in federal court for their roles in assaulting Sicknick.
"Although it is beyond question Defendant Trump lost the 2020 presidential election, he still remains unwilling to accept defeat, He lied to his followers by, among other things, telling them that the certification of Joe Biden’s election was a 'coup' and that their country was being stolen from them," the lawsuit states. "He filed dozens of frivolous lawsuits, all of which substantively failed. And he tried to intimidate state officials, none of whom caved to the pressure."
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"Out of options and out of time, Defendant Trump finally called his supporters to Washington, D.C. on the day Congress met to certify President-elect Biden’s win, telling them to 'Stop the Steal' and that the day 'will be wild.' Tens of thousands of his supporters came to the District in response, including Defendants Khater and Tanios. Some, including Defendants Khater and Tanios, planned violence at the U.S. Capitol in advance; some were stirred to violence by Defendant Trump’s words on that day," the lawsuit added.
Trump is attempting to revive a faltering third run for the White House. But the biggest roadblack to his path to the nomination may end up being his mounting legal woes, with a quasi-independent "special counsel" appointed to look into numerous allegations of misconduct.
He is under the spotlight over his handling of classified documents found in an FBI raid of his beachfront mansion in Florida, his role in the 2021 insurrection and, in Georgia, his attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat.
Earlier this month, a federal judge sanctioned Trump and his lawyers nearly $1 million for a "frivolous" lawsuit claiming Hillary Clinton had tried to rig the 2016 election.
District Judge John Middlebrooks said the Republican, who is seeking to return to the White House in 2024, exhibited a "continuing pattern of misuse of the courts" and had filed the suit "in order to dishonestly advance a political narrative."
With additional reporting by AFP
