In the United States District Court for the Southern District of ______
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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF _________ Attorney General of the State of ______ , on Behalf of the Citizens of the State of _____ Plaintiffs, Case No.: v. DONALD J. TRUMP Defendant. INTRODUCTION 1. This is a civil action for damages under the laws of the United State, common and general law, and international law for among other grounds, criminal negligence, wrongful death, gross negligence and willful misconduct, fraudulent concealment, dereliction of duty, crimes against humanity, treason and declaratory relief. 2. This action arises from Trump’s conduct prior to, during, and following the Covid-19 pandemic that swept through the country in 2020 and 2021. This lawsuit is based on Defendant Trump’s intentional, reckless, and/or negligent acts which caused inter alia: (a.) The deaths of 25,190 [insert name of state, county or municipality]; (b.) The infection of 419,642 [insert name of state, county or municipality] citizens; (c.) Life-long debilitating health conditions for tens of thousands; (d.) Loss of parents, grandparents, husbands and wives, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters; (e) Economic losses and hardship for millions; and (f) Loss of property, including businesses, colleges and hospitals, JURISDICTION AND VENUE 3. Jurisdiction of this matter is founded upon diversity of citizenship under 28 U.S.C. § 1332 and pendent and concurrent state jurisdiction. 4. This Court has jurisdiction over this class action: under 28 U.S.C. § 1332, because the matter in controversy exceeds $75,000, exclusive of interest and costs, and because there is complete diversity of parties; under 28 U.S.C. § 1331, because the claims asserted herein arise under the laws of the United States of America, including the laws of the State of [insert], which have been declared, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 2201-2202, which provides for federal declaratory actions and related relief. 5. Venue in this District is proper under 28 U.S.C. § 1391 because, among other reasons, a substantial part of the wrongful acts alleged herein were carried out within the Southern District of [insert], the Plaintiffs and/or their descendants suffered injury in the Southern District and Trump conducts and transacts business within this District. FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS 6. In support Plaintiffs allege as follows: December 31, 2019 – China announced to the world that it was investigating a “respiratory illness” in its city of Wuhan. The respiratory illness was called an “outbreak.” January 1-5, 2020 – U.S. intelligence agencies warned of the threat posed by the coronavirus. Trump took no action, nor did he instruct anyone in his administration to take remedial action. · January 6-8, 2020 – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued “travel warnings” to Americans planning trips to China. The CDC said it was “monitoring” the China “outbreak.” · January 16, 2020 – CDC announced it would “screen” individuals arriving in America from Wuhan, China. The President was thus on notice that a serious medical crisis was developing. · January 18, 2020 – Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar briefed Trump at the President’s Mar-a-Lago resort about the threat posed by the coronavirus spreading across the globe. 2 · January 21, 2020 – The first confirmed case of the COVID virus was found in Washington in a traveler who had recently returned from a visit to China. The same day the first case was confirmed in South Korea. · January 22, 2020 – Trump informed the nation during a press conference that the U.S. had the virus “totally under control” and that the nation would be “just fine.” January 23, 2020 – Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro warned the White House as early as January that the coronavirus posed a great threat to the United States. Navarro said, “the lives of millions of Americans” could be imperiled by the pandemic. Trump continued to downplay the threat, saying a month later, “Now, this is just my hunch, and — but based on a lot of conversations with a lot of people that do this, because a lot of people will have this, and it’s very mild. They will get better very rapidly.” · January 27, 2020 – White House aides urged Trump’s Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney, to take the threat of the COVID virus more seriously as should the President. · January 29, 2020 – Independent of the President, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar established a COVID virus task force to address the rising threat. · January 29, 2020 – Trump’s economic adviser Peter Navarro sent a memo to Trump’s National Security Council warning that the COVID virus could kill 500,000 Americans. Surely, the NSC informed the President about the potential danger. January 30, 2020 – Secretary Azar warned Trump a second time about the threat posed by the COVID virus. Jan. 31: The Trump administration declared a public health emergency and the president signed an order limiting travel from China to the U.S. · January 31, 2020 – Trump bans entry of anyone into U.S. who had visited China within the previous 14 days. Exemptions in the travel ban would allow 40,000 people to enter U.S. from China after the ban was put in place. · January 31, 2020 – HHS Secretary Azar declared the coronavirus a “public health emergency. Feb. 2: On the same day the Trump administration's travel restriction on China went into effect, the president told Fox News that it is effective in stopping the virus from spreading. "We pretty much shut it down coming in from China," he said. Feb. 2: On the same day the Trump administration's travel restriction on China went into effect, the president told Fox News that it is effective in stopping the virus from spreading. "We pretty much shut it down coming in from China," he said. 3 · February 5, 2020 – U.S. senators urged the Trump administration to take the COVID virus more seriously. Trump failed to heed those warnings. Feb. 7: Following a call with China's President Xi Jinping, Trump told Woodward the conversation centered around the coronavirus outbreak, according to a recording first reported on by CNN and the Washington Post. "I think he is going to have it in good shape. But it's a very tricky situation. It goes through air, Bob," he said. "It's also more deadly than even your strenuous flus." "This is deadly stuff," he added. Feb. 10: At a rally in New Hampshire, Trump began to spread the idea the coronavirus may simply disappear. "Looks like by April, you know in theory, when it gets a little warmer it miraculously goes away," he said. "I think it's going to all going to work out fine." · February 14, 2020 – National Security Council prepared a memo that the COVID virus required “targeted quarantine and isolation measures.” The President took no action on the memo. · February 23, 2020 – Peter Navarro sent a second memo warning the President that many as 2 million people could lose their lives to the virus. · February 24, 2020 – Trump declared that COVID virus was “very much under control.” That was a calculated lie. · February 25, 2020 – National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases Director Nancy Messonnier issued a strong warning about the COVID virus threat, which was angrily rebuffed by Trump. Feb. 26: Fewer than three weeks after telling Woodward the coronavirus was deadlier than a strenuous flu, the president said during a White House coronavirus task force briefing: "The flu, in our country, kills from 25,000 people to 69,000 people a year. That was shocking to me. And, so far, if you look at what we have with the 15 people and their recovery, one is -- one is pretty sick but hopefully will recover, but the others are in great shape. But think of that: 25,000 to 69,000." February 26, 2020 – Vice President Mike Pence named to head a White House task force to deal with the COVID virus as Trump downplays the crisis by misinforming the nation his administration is “really prepared” to deal with the public health emergency. · February 28, 2020 – Trump called the COVID virus a Democratic “hoax” at a South Carolina political rally. Again, a politically calculated lie. 4 · February 29, 2020 – Trump falsely stated that the U.S. was leading the world in testing for the virus even though the nation had only conducted a few thousand tests by end of day on February 28. · March 4, 2020 – Trump deflected by falsely blaming the Obama administration for mishandling of the “swine flu” March 9: On Twitter, Trump again said the flu is worse than the coronavirus, writing, "So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. ... Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!" That same day, he accused Democrats and the media of trying to make the outbreak appear worse than it is, tweeting, "The Fake News Media and their partner, the Democrat Party, is doing everything within its semi-considerable power (it used to be greater!) to inflame the CoronaVirus situation, far beyond what the facts would warrant." · March 11, 2020 – World Health Organization declared COVID virus a “pandemic.” The U.S. death toll stood at 37 at the time. · March 11, 2020 – Trump banned travel from European countries, except for Ireland and United Kingdom, into the U.S. Thousands of people returning from these countries were crammed into small spaces in the 13 designated airports as they awaited a limited screening process. Public health experts feared many carried the virus and were spreading it among non- infected passengers.