Former President Trump and his son Donald Trump Jr. on Wednesday hired attorney Jesse Binnall to represent each of them in a lawsuit filed by Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), according to The Daily Beast. The congressman has filed two complaints aimed at holding the former president and his allies accountable for the deadly Capitol insurrection this year.
Swalwell, who served as a House impeachment manager during the former president’s second impeachment trial, alleges that Trump, his son and Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) broke Washington D.C. laws by inciting the riot. The then-President and his allies pushed false claims of widespread voter fraud that led up to the Capitol attack on the day of the joint session of Congress that certified Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
Binnall, a Virginia-based Republican attorney, is set to represent the former president and his son after having previously represented former Trump national security adviser Mike Flynn, alongside attorney Sidney Powell. Prosecutors charged Flynn with lying to the FBI about his communications with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S.
Binnall also recently filed a lawsuit in Nevada on behalf of the Trump campaign, which attempted to challenge Joe Biden’s electoral victory in the state. Additionally, Binnall represented the Powell-founded legal group Defending the Republic in a defamation lawsuit waged by Dominion Voting Systems.
Swalwell’s lawsuit follows a similar lawsuit filed by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), which alleges that Trump, Rudy Giuliani and extremist groups like the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys violated a civil rights law intended to counter the Ku Klux Klan’s intimidation of elected officials.
Binnall previously signed on to represent the former president in the Thompson lawsuit, making Trump Jr. the second family member to be represented by Binnall.
