The Justice Department on Thursday is testing Trump’s legal vulnerability to his speech before the riot in a federal court case on former President Donald Trump by injured Capitol Police officers and Democratic lawmakers at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. A lawsuit can be filed.
The Justice Department told a Washington federal appeals court in a legal filing that it should allow the lawsuits to proceed, rejecting Trump’s argument that he is free of the claims.
The department said it takes no position on the lawsuit’s claims that the former president’s words incited the attack on the Capitol. Nevertheless, Justice lawyers told the court that a president would not be protected by “absolute immunity” if his words were found to “incite imminent private violence.”
“As leader of the nation and head of state, the president has ‘an extraordinary power to speak to and on behalf of his fellow citizens,'” he wrote. “But that traditional function is one of public communication and persuasion, not imminent private incitement to violence.”
The brief was filed by attorneys in the Civil Division of the Justice Department and has no bearing on a separate criminal investigation by the department’s special counsel on whether Trump has the ability to undo President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election ahead of the Capitol. Attempts can be criminally charged. riot. In fact, the attorneys noted that they are not taking a position regarding potential criminal liability for Trump or anyone else.
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Trump’s lawyers have argued that he was acting within the bounds of his official duties and had no intention of inciting violence when he called for thousands of supporters to “march on the Capitol” and “fight like hell” before the riot broke out. Wasn’t the intention.
His lawyers wrote in court papers, “The actions of the rioters do not waive President Trump’s immunity.” “Up until and on January 6, President Trump was acting well within the confines of normal presidential action when he engaged in open discussion and debate regarding the integrity of the 2020 election.”
A Trump spokesman said Thursday that the president “repeatedly called for peace, patriotism and respect for the men and women of our law enforcement” on Jan. 6 and said the courts should “summarily rule in favor of President Trump.” should be done and these trivialities should be rejected.” lawsuits.
