Two Indiana women who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol are suing the federal government for allegedly violating their rights.
Anna Morgan-Lloyd and Donna Sue Bissey, of Bloomfield in Greene County, are among more than a dozen former Jan. 6 defendants named in the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
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The women were convicted on charges relating to the riot at the U.S. Capitol after then-Senator Joe Biden defeated President Trump in the 2020 election. Trump pardoned them both, along with most Jan. 6 defendants, last year.
The lawsuit seeks damages under the Federal Tort Claims Act for a variety of alleged violations during their prosecutions. Among Morgan-Lloyd's claims are insufficient legal representation. Bissey alleges medical negligence by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. Both claim malicious prosecution over their support for Trump.
The lawsuit seeks damages of no less than $1 million each, expungement of their records and a declaration that the U.S. government’s actions were illegal.
"Donna Sue Bissey is a patriotic American citizen who traveled to Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021, to attend the political rally. Ms. Bissey and co-plaintiff Anna Morgan-Lloyd walked through open doors of the Capitol, led by an unknown and unidentified provocateur named 'Linda,'" according to the complaint. "Ms. Bissey and Ms. Morgan-Lloyd exited the Capitol after about 10 minutes."
The complaint includes lengthy sections describing a vast conspiracy by a group of "globalists" that it claimed had infiltrated the judiciary, U.S. Department of Justice, and Democratic Party seeking to rig the election for Biden.
The Department of Justice has not yet responded but last week, U.S. officials filed a motion to dismiss a similar lawsuit filed under the Federal Torts Claim Act, arguing the statute of limitations on such cases ended years ago.
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Also last week, a federal judge reluctantly dismissed the seditious conspiracy case against members of the far-right Oath Keepers extremist group at the Trump administration’s request.
The move closes the book on the Jan. 6 cases that were wiped out with Trump’s sweeping pardons and commutations last year, freeing people convicted of violent assaults on police and other crimes from prison.
The Department of Justice in April acted to vacate the convictions of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and others in the seditious conspiracy case, who had their sentences commuted but did not receive pardons.
Trump has argued that the Jan. 6 defendants were treated unfairly, saying the pardons were intended to end “a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people” and begin “a process of national reconciliation.”
More than 1,200 people across the United States were convicted of Jan. 6 crimes, including roughly 200 people who pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement.
Most of the Jan. 6 defendants were granted “full, complete and unconditional” pardons, while Rhodes and other defendants in the seditious conspiracy cases only had their sentences commuted. Trump also ordered the attorney general to seek the dismissal of roughly 450 cases that were pending before judges stemming from the largest investigation in Justice Department history.
The Associated Press and Cathy Knapp contributed to this report.
