Former President Donald Trump is being sued for wrongful death by the estate of Officer Brian Sicknick.
“Estate of Officer Brian Sicknick, who died after the Jan 6 2021 Capitol attack, suing Donald Trump for wrongful death seeking monetary damages of $10 million and more,” Jake Tapper of CNN tweeted.
Officer Sicknick died in the line of duty after suffering two strokes the day after he engaged with the terrorists attacking Congress and the U.S. Capitol. The medical examiner determined that he died from natural causes.
Videos of that horrific day show a terrifying mob attacking outnumbered police officers.
WARNING: Disturbing images and violence
Julian Elie Khater, 32, of Pennsylvania, and George Pierre Tanios, 39, of West Virginia, were arrested for assaulting Officer Sicknick. Khater pleaded guilty in September of 2021 to two felony charges for assaulting law enforcement officers with a dangerous weapon, causing bodily injury to the officers. Tanios, pleaded guilty on July 27, 2022 to entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds and disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds.
Two other Capitol Police officers sued Trump for “physical and emotional injuries,” including Officer James Blassingame and Officer Sidney Hemby. They alleged that Trump “inflamed, encouraged, incited, directed, and aided and abetted” the attackers.
That lawsuit alleges that Trump incited the insurrection.
In a new lawsuit, @CapitolPolice Officer James Blassingame describes the continuous assault from Trump supporters during the #CapitolRiot as they beat him, slammed him against a stone column and repeatedly called him racial epithets. pic.twitter.com/l1qDzZ3lEo
— Jordan Fischer (@JordanOnRecord) March 31, 2021
President Joe Biden will mark Friday’s two-year anniversary of the January 6, 2021 domestic terrorist attack by awarding the Presidential Citizens Medal to 12 people, CNN reported Thursday afternoon.
“The individuals include law enforcement officers who were injured defending the Capitol, a Capitol Police officer who died the day after rioters stormed the building and election workers who rejected efforts by former President Donald Trump to overturn the results of the 2020 election.”
Members of Sicknick’s family refused to shake hands with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and then House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy during a ceremony recognizing hundreds of officers who were at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
They told NBC this was not a mistake:
“We got together and said we’re not going to shake their hands,” Gladys Sicknick, mother of the late officer, told NBC News.
She called out congressional Republicans who continue to support former President Trump, “go down to Mar-a-Lago and you know, kiss his ring or whatever the hell they do down there, you know.”
Ken Sicknick, brother of the late officer, told NBC News that their refusal to shake GOP leaders’ hands at the ceremony is “kind of self-explanatory.”
“They continue to perpetrate the big lie, or at least not denounce it, which is basically the same thing, and they refuse to condemn Donald Trump,” he said, referring to the former president’s false claims of widespread election fraud in the 2020 election.
Donald Trump tried to get other lawsuits accusing him of incitement thrown out, but Judge Amit Mehta determined that the lawsuits by two police officers and Democratic members of Congress could proceed toward trial.
“Mehta ruled Trump was not immune from the lawsuits, determining that the then-president’s fiery speech before the Capitol attack was not within the scope of his official presidential duties.”
The former Republican President’s lawyers have argued that Trump was not inciting violence, and his words are “protected speech.”
Legal experts opined, “Whatever legal or constitutional test you apply, Trump incited the violent Capitol attack.”
“Trump’s speech was not protected
Like so much else the ex-president and his lawyers say, that is false. Trump’s incendiary remarks Jan. 6 were clearly incitement, even within the parameters of the term in First Amendment jurisprudence.”
Wrongful death cases are a civil action, usually brought by close relatives.
Listen to Sarah on the PoliticusUSA Pod on The Daily newsletter podcast here.
Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Connect with Sarah on Post, Mastodon @PoliticusSarah@Journa.Host, & Twitter.
