A group of very angry Asian-Americans claims that what they believe is a rise in violence against Asian-Americans is all the fault of former President Donald Trump, and is suing him for $22.9 million.
The lawsuit filed by the Chinese Civil Rights Coalition not only wants damages for everything Trump said while he was president, but also for anything he said about what Trump has called the “China virus” since he left office.
“Defendant has repeatedly used the terms such as ‘Chinese virus’, ‘China virus’, ‘Wuhan virus’, ‘Kung Flu virus’ (hereafter referred to as Defendant’s Statements) in his official capacity in tweets, interviews, campaign rallies and even press briefings at the White House, and continued doing so after he left office,” the lawsuit claims.
The lawsuit said that “presidential immunity shall not apply in this case because making defamation statements against one group of citizens is not part of official duty and the Constitution has never enumerated such power. ”
“Defendant intentionally repeated those defamatory words to serve his own personal and political interest with astonishing level of actual malice and negligence, hence severely injuring the Chinese/Asian Americans communities in the process. If this case does not rise to the level of defamation by an individual holding the most powerful office with the most solemn responsibility for all Americans, then nothing does,” the lawsuit also said.
The #ChinaVirus or #WuhanVirus is for real…China is waging a bio war against the world https://t.co/jJjX8OYw3J
— Srinivas 🇮🇳 (@Nation_frst) May 20, 2021
Much of the lawsuit’s content is a listing of times Trump used what the plaintiff felt was offensive language.
The lawsuit also seeks to link more than 20 instances of alleged hate crimes involving Asian-Americans with Trump’s comments.
By way of damages, the lawsuit wants Trump to pay $1 for every Asian-American in the U.S., saying the money will go to found a museum dedicated to showing the contributions of Asian-Americans to the U.S.
The lawsuit seeks a jury trial.
In March 2020, Trump defended his use of the term “China virus,” according to CNN.
As we have said from Day 1 apparently the #ChinaVirus very well may have originated in Wuhan (China for all those geographically challenged) just as #DonaldJTrump surmised. I guess it took many others to@concur before Trumps claims were taken seriously. pic.twitter.com/WYD3wA3h3U
— Reg Conservative & Doge Dude (@CertifiedMarty) May 20, 2021
“‘Cause it comes from China. It’s not racist at all, no, not at all. It comes from China, that’s why. I want to be accurate,” Trump said then.
“I have great love for all of the people from our country, but as you know China tried to say at one point … that it was caused by American soldiers. That can’t happen. It’s not gonna happen, not as long as I’m President. It comes from China,” he said.
As we have said from Day 1 apparently the #ChinaVirus very well may have originated in Wuhan (China for all those geographically challenged) just as #DonaldJTrump surmised. I guess it took many others to@concur before Trumps claims were taken seriously. pic.twitter.com/WYD3wA3h3U
— Reg Conservative & Doge Dude (@CertifiedMarty) May 20, 2021
Although the lawsuit contends that research has not pinpointed the source of the virus, its citations do not include comments from the World Health Organization that the virus began in China.
On Thursday, House Intelligence Committee Republicans said that not only was it clear that the virus began in China, but that “significant circumstantial evidence raises serious concerns that the COVID-19 outbreak may have been a leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology,” according to Fox News.
