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A couple of months after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Donald Trump insisted that the rioters posed "zero threat." The former Republican president added that the violent insurrectionists were merely "hugging and kissing the police and the guards" during the assault.
For the police officers who actually confronted the rioters, reality tells a very different story. In fact, as Politico reported, a growing number of the officers have taken the matter to court, hoping to hold Trump accountable for the consequences they've had to deal with.
Three more police officers who responded to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol — including two who aided the evacuation of lawmakers — have sued Donald Trump, seeking damages for their physical and emotional injuries.
In this instance, there are actually two new lawsuits. One was filed by Capitol Officer Marcus Moore, who was injured during the attack, and who's seeking a judgment against Trump and compensatory damages.
Politico's report added that the other case was filed by two officers with the Metropolitan Police Department — Bobby Tabron and DeDivine Carter — who were also injured during the riot and are also seeking compensatory damages from the man responsible for dispatching the attackers.
They are among the roughly 140 police officers who suffered injuries as part of the pro-Trump riot.
If the news of the lawsuits sounds at all familiar, it's not your imagination. Circling back to our earlier coverage, it was in March when two U.S. Capitol Police veterans — James Blassingame and Sidney Hemby — filed suit against Trump, hoping to hold the Republican accountable for inciting a mob that left them and their colleagues injured.
In August, seven more officers filed suit against Trump and his allies, accusing them of intentionally deploying violent rioters to the Capitol. As we discussed at the time, the case alleges that the then-president and his confederates, with their efforts to block the electoral vote count, violated the Civil Rights Act of 1871 — a Reconstruction Era law that was designed in part to give federal officials legal recourse against those who conspire to use violence and threats of intimidation to keep officials from fulfilling their lawful duties.
With yesterday's developments, the number of police officers suing Trump over his Jan. 6 role has now reached 10.
The former president has long been eager to present himself as an ally of law enforcement (despite his persistent and fierce criticisms of law enforcement). These suits put Trump's posturing in an important new light.