Trump, Giuliani, Oath Keepers ask for Jan. 6 lawsuit to be dismissed

May 27 (UPI) -- Former President Donald Trump, his former personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and the far-right group Oath Keepers all filed motions to be dismissed from a federal civil lawsuit filed by Rep. Bennie Thompson in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

In February, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., along with the NAACP and a Washington, D.C. civil rights law firm filed a lawsuit against them for violating the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act, charging that they conspired to spark the insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Congress was in session at the time, attempting to certify the Electoral College votes from the 2020 presidential election for President Joe Biden. Lawmakers stopped the proceedings and went into hiding as a mob of pro-Trump supporters raided the building.

Thompson's lawsuit claimed that comments by Trump and Giuliani at a rally before the attack helped spur the crowd. In court filings, Trump's attorney Jesse Birnnal wrote Trump did no such thing, saying the ex-president urged the crowd to "peacefully and patriotically make [their voices] heard," according to CNBC.

Giuliani's lawyers argued in their dismiss motion that "no reasonable reader or listener would have perceived Giuliani's speech as an instruction to march to the Capitol, violently breach the perimeter and enter the Capitol building, and then violently terrorize Congress into not engaging in the Electoral certification."

In their filing, the Oath Keepers said the lawsuit was "conclusory and speculative" and it endangers the Constitution's provision to peacefully assemble and petitioning Congress for the redress of grievances.