An advertisement soliciting donations for former US President Donald Trump is seen as it is introduced as evidence and shown during the second public hearing of the US House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, US June 13, 2022.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
Former President Donald Trump does not have immunity from civil lawsuits related to the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, a federal appeal court the panel ruled unanimously on Friday.
The ruling did not say Trump was responsible for the attack on the Capitol by a mob of his supporters that injured more than 100 police officers. Several of them sued Trump for allegedly inciting riots.
But it raised the prospect that Trump could pay substantial damages and legal fees from these lawsuits, and potentially other lawsuits stemming from the insurgency.
The decision came after Trump, who is the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, challenged federal district court charges filed against him by police and several members of Congress.
“Arguing that he is entitled to official action immunity in the cases before us, President Trump does not dispute that he engaged in his alleged actions up to and including January 6 in his capacity as a candidate,” Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan wrote in the opinion for a three-judge panel at the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
“But he doesn’t think that matters,” Srinivasan wrote.
“Rather, in his view, a President’s speech on matters of public concern is always an official duty, and he was engaged in that work when he spoke at the rally on January 6 and in the lead up to that day. We cannot accept that justification.”
Srinivasan, who was appointed to his seat by former President Barack Obama, was joined in the decision by Judge Judith Rogers, and Judge Gregory Katsas.
Katsas was appointed by Trump, and he previously clerked for conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Rogers was appointed by former President Bill Clinton, a Democrat.
Trump already faces four pending criminal charges, two related to his effort to reverse his loss to President Joe Biden in the 2020 election. of a joint session of Congress.
In New York, Trump is the target of a state attorney general’s lawsuit, seeking $250 million in damages for alleged business fraud.
Trump earlier this year was ordered by a federal civil jury to pay $5 million to writer E. Jean Carroll for sexually abusing him and defaming him. He faces a second trial for another related Carroll lawsuit, in early 2024.
Trump at the same time is the clear front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
This is breaking news. Check back for updates.
