Trump could face civil charges over Jan. 6 riot, DOJ says

[ad_1]

Former US President Donald Trump reacts at an event held to address the recent derailment of a train carrying hazardous waste, in East Palestine, Ohio, US, February 22, 2023.

Freed by Alan | Reuters

Former President Donald Trump may be sued by two US Capitol Police officers seeking to hold him accountable for the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, the Department of Justice said in a court filing Thursday.

Lawyers for the DOJ’s civil division told a federal appeals court in Washington, DC, that it should reject Trump’s “categorical argument” that the US president is “always immune from any civil suit” based on his public statement, “even if that speech also. constitutes incitement to imminent private violence.”

“Public speaking on matters of public concern is a traditional function of the Presidency, and the outer perimeter of the Office of the President includes a broad field of such speech,” the DOJ lawyers wrote. “But that traditional function is one of public communication. It does not include inciting imminent private violence of the kind that the district court found plaintiffs’ complaints reasonably allege.”

A United States District Court judge in February 2022 ruled against Trump’s efforts to dismiss civil lawsuits by two police officers and members of Congress. The judge wrote that Trump’s Jan. 6 speech, in which he encouraged a crowd of his supporters to “fight like hell” and then directed them toward the Capitol, could be seen as “a call for con- same action.”

Trump appealed. After hearing arguments in December, appellate judges asked the DOJ to weigh in on the dispute.

In a 32-page brief filed Thursday, Justice Department lawyers determined the district court was right to reject Trump’s assertion of absolute immunity when he speaks “on a matter of public concern.”

But they stressed that the US is not expressing an opinion on whether Trump’s speech prompted the unrest at the Capitol.

They cited legal precedent that states the president should be given “broad latitude” to speak without fear that their off-the-cuff remarks will “result in litigation and potential liability.” But denying full immunity protection to “incitement of imminent private violence” should not be “so cold” to the president’s speech, they determined.

Trump was impeached in the House on an article of “incitement of insurrection” after the riot. He was acquitted in the Senate.

[ad_2]