I'm Melissa Murray in for Alex tonight. On January 6th, Capitol Police Officer James Blassengame did not think he was going to make it home.

He was slammed against a stone column in the capital's crypt, injuring his head and back,

and he watched as rioters wearing Make America Great Again hats urinated on the walls,

and he listened as they shouted racist slurs at him. The actions of the mob on

that day traumatized Officer Blasengame so much that he still has flashbacks.

But Officer Blasengame doesn't just blame the rioters for what happened on January 6th.

He thinks that Donald Trump himself should be held accountable.

Seeing the timing of events and how things unfolded and to whip up I mean to feed people

incorrect narrative for months and then to have them come to the city at the time that they're going to certify the

votes, then to whip people up and say we're going to go down Pennsylvania Avenue and

to We're going to go down Pennsylvania Avenue and to you know as a president to use the

bully pulpit I mean that how does that not mean

something you know the president of the United States this is

the most powerful human being on the planet if the most powerful human being on a planet

can is not hill accountable can do whatever they want to do.

What does that say about our democracy as a whole?

In 2021, Officer Blasengame and another Capitol Police officer filed a civil lawsuit against

Donald Trump.

They argued that they should be awarded financial damages from the former president for the pain

and trauma that they endured on January 6th.

President Trump tried to get the case dismissed, claiming that because he was the president

at that time, he was immune from civil cases related to January 6th. But today the United States

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