DOJ Says Trump Can Be Sued Over January 6 | Eastern NC Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the The Daily Wire. The author of this post is Daniel Chaitin.

    The Justice Department (DOJ) said Thursday that former President Donald Trump can be sued in connection to the breach of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

    Attorneys for the DOJ Civil Division filed a court brief in response to the D.C. U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals asking the agency to respond to Trump's claim of absolute immunity in a bid to dismiss the civil lawsuits brought against him.

    "Speaking to the public on matters of public concern is a traditional function of the Presidency, and the outer perimeter of the President's Office includes a vast realm of such speech," government lawyers wrote.

    "But that traditional function is one of public communication," they added. "It does not include incitement of imminent private violence."

    Two Capitol Police officers and 11 Democrats have sued Trump in an attempt to hold him liable for the events of January 6, 2021, when a crowd of people entered the U.S. Capitol, disrupting lawmakers who were meeting to certify President Joe Biden's 2020 election victory. The plaintiffs include Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Eric Swalwell (D-CA), and Maxine Waters (D-CA).

    Looming large over the litigation is Trump's speech at a rally on the White House Ellipse before the Capitol breach. Trump urged people to "fight like hell" over allegations of election fraud. And he remarked on supporters marching to the U.S. Capitol "to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard."

    Trump's lawyers argued their client was protected by his "ironclad presidential immunity as it relates to speechmaking." But U.S. District Court Judge Judge Amit Mehta ruled in February of last year that the lawsuits, which were consolidated into one case, could move forward as Trump's message to supporters was "the essence of civil conspiracy." Trump's legal team sought relief from the appellate court, which led to an invitation to the DOJ to weigh in on the question of presidential immunity.

    DOJ lawyers wrote in their Thursday filing that the judge concluded the plaintiffs' complaints "plausibly" allege that Trump's speech at a rally on the White House Ellipse during which he encouraged supporters to march to the U.S. Capitol "precipitated" the violence that followed.

    "The United States expresses no view on that conclusion, or on the truth of the allegations in plaintiffs' complaints," the government lawyers added. "But in the United States' view, such incitement of imminent private violence would not be within the outer perimeter of the Office of the President of the United States."

    Trump and his allies face various other kinds of lawsuits stemming from January 6, the 2020 election, and beyond. There are also criminal investigations, including one being led by the district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, and special counsel Jack Smith, who was appointed to the task by Attorney General Merrick Garland.

    Trump broadly denies any wrongdoing, often claiming he is the target of a "witch hunt."

poll#165

In light of continued developments, primarily since 2008, there exists in these United States a Legal System which operates on a proved Two Tiered approach to justice rendered, which primarily benefits Democratic Elites and Woke Ideological Virtue Signalers, representing their co-dependent wards, to the expressed exclusion of normal hardworking American citizens: What is your suggestion in remedying this widespread injustice and, if not corrected, its existential outcome for our Constitutional Republic?

  Complete overhaul of the Department of Justice and their enforcers - the FBI - to reflect a far more honest justice system to keep patriots remaining calm.

  Disband the FBI, and request that congress investigate all unethical and non patriotic practices to partially right the wrongs of a distrusted and politically weaponized "Department of Justice."

  Continue with the current system since the two tiered justice system has been so remarkably beneficial to Democratic Socialist political hegemony; chronic distrust in institutions notwithstanding.

676 total vote(s)     What's your Opinion?