Trump And Giuliani Are Being Sued By The NAACP For Violating A Law Involving The Ku Klux Klan

Getty Image

Former president Donald J. Trump seems to be trying to inch his way back into the public eye. After being acquitted by the Senate for inciting the failed MAGA coup, he turned around and released a wild statement in which he blasted the person he helped save him from conviction — Mitch McConnell — whom he called an “unsmiling hack.” It was a classic Trump move. But the truth is his legal and economic futures are in danger, and on Tuesday he was hit with another headache: The NAACP is suing him and Rudy Giuliani for violating a law dubbed “The Ku Klux Klan Act.”
According to The New York Times, Trump and his personal attorney are accused of violating what’s officially known as the Enforcement Act of 1871, which includes “protections against violent conspiracies that interfered with Congress’s constitutional duties.” The lawsuit, which was filed by the NAACP, accuses not only Trump and Giuliani but also the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, a militia group, of inciting the violent riot at the Capitol, with the intention of stopping Congress from certifying the 2020 election.
The law is also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act because it was originally enacted to combat the KKK and other white nationalist groups, who had targeted black people in the years following the end of the Civil War.
For those keeping track, this is yet another legal hurdle Trump must face as a newly private citizen. New York State is investigating his financial dealings, while the state’s attorney general is looking into whether his company misstated assets to get bank loans and tax benefits. And then there’s Georgia’s D.A., who recently launched a formal investigation into his (and Senator Lindsey Graham’s) alleged election interference there.
The NAACP filed the lawsuit on behalf of Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi representative, who says he spent three hours hiding on the House floor while overhearing “threats of physical violence against any member who attempted to proceed to approve the Electoral College ballot count.” He also says he wouldn’t have brought about the suit had the Senate voted to convict Trump.
(Via NYT)