Judge rejects Trump’s immunity request over Capitol riots
A judge has rejected former US President Donald Trump’s attempts to have lawsuits accusing him of sparking the January 6, 2021 storming of the Capitol dismissed, ruling on Friday that Trump should not be immune from civil damages.
District Judge Amit Mehta claimed that the complaints from nearly a dozen Democratic congressmen and two Capitol Police officers “establish a plausible conspiracy involving President Trump.”
Mehta claimed that a “civil conspiracy need not involve an express agreement; so, the fact that President Trump is not alleged to have ever met, let alone sat down with, a Proud Boy or an Oath Keeper to hatch a plan is not dispositive.”
“A tacit agreement – one that is ‘implied or indicated... but not actually expressed’ – is enough” to implicate Trump in the conspiracy, the judge declared, acknowledging that it was “no small step” to “deny a president immunity from civil damages.”
The court well understands the gravity of its decision. But the alleged facts of this case are without precedent, and the court believes that its decision is consistent with the purposes behind such immunity
Trump’s critics have repeatedly claimed that the 45th president was responsible for the January 6, 2021 storming of the Capitol, which saw Trump supporters forcefully entering the US Capitol building in protest of his election defeat to Joe Biden. In a speech before the incident, Trump alleged that the election had been rigged, and pushed for Biden’s victory to be nullified.
