Justice Department: Trump may be sued by victims of January 6 Capitol riot

WASHINGTON (AP) – Former President Donald Trump could be sued by wounded Capitol cops and Democratic lawmakers in connection with the January 6, 2021 uprising at the US Capitol, the Justice Department said Thursday during a federal court case testing Trump’s legal vulnerability and the limits of executive power.

The department wrote that while the president enjoys broad legal leeway to communicate with the public on matters of concern, “no part of the president’s official duties includes inciting imminent violence in private life.” By definition, such behavior clearly goes beyond constitutional and statutory obligations.”

The memo was filed by lawyers in the Justice Department’s Civil Division and is not related to a separate criminal investigation being conducted by the department’s special counsel as to whether Trump could face criminal charges for trying to reverse Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory in front of the Capitol. riot. In fact, lawyers note that they are not taking a position on the potential criminal liability of Trump or anyone else.

The Justice Department wrote that it also disregarded the lower court judge’s finding that those who sued Trump “plausibly” claimed that his speech caused the riots. However, the department said an appeals court should reject Trump’s claim that he is immune from lawsuits.

The Justice Department warned that “the court must take care not to pass rules that would unnecessarily freeze legitimate presidential communications” or burden the president with frivolous lawsuits.

“In carrying out their traditional communicative functions, presidents regularly address controversial issues that evoke passionate feelings. Presidents may use harsh rhetoric from time to time.

Trump is appealing the decision of a federal judge in Washington, who last year dismissed the former president’s attempts to dismiss civil conspiracy lawsuits filed by lawmakers and two Capitol police officers. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Trump’s words during a rally ahead of the violent storming of the U.S. Capitol were likely “words of incitement not protected by the First Amendment.”

Lawsuits filed by Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., Officers James Blassingame and Sidney Hemby, and later joined by other House Democrats, allege that Trump and others made “false and inflammatory allegations of fraud and theft, and direct responding to the Defendant’s explicit calls for violence at a rally, an angry mob attacked the US Capitol.”

The lawsuits cite a federal civil rights law that was passed to counter the Ku Klux Klan’s intimidation of officials. They detail how Trump and others spread baseless allegations of electoral fraud both before and after the 2020 presidential election was called, and accuse them of helping anger thousands of rioters before they stormed the Capitol.