Too-late Trump open to 1/6 suits
Donald Trump is now open to civil lawsuits over his alleged role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot after missing a deadline to appeal a lower-court ruling to the US Supreme Court.
The former president, 77, had until Feb. 15 to ask the nine justices to rule on whether he should be immune from civil cases blaming him for the violence — but no appeal was filed.
The lack of a filing was first reported by NBC News.
Trump attorneys and the embattled real estate tycoon presumably had bigger fish to fry last week as the 45th president received two legal blows in separate cases.
On Thursday, Trump found out he would face a criminal trial starting March 25 in a Manhattan “hush money” case. Then on Friday, he was hit with a $355 million civil penalty for business fraud.
In December, the US Circuit Court of Appeals, DC Circuit, rejected Trump’s bid to toss out three civil cases filed by Capitol Police officers and Democratic lawmakers. But the three-judge panel said it took “no view on the ultimate merits of the claims,” seemingly leaving the door open for an appeal.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said at the time that Trump would “continue to fight for presidential immunity all across the spectrum.”
The former commander in chief has claimed presidential immunity in both the civil and criminal cases he faces.
The DC federal case charging him with unlawfully trying to overthrow the 2020 presidential election result is in limbo while the Supreme Court decides whether Trump has immunity in that case.
Trump’s lawyers have argued he’s shielded from any liability for acts he took while he was in office — an argument that has been rejected by lower courts to date.
A group of other House Democrats as well as Capitol Police Officers James Blassingame and Sidney Hemby also have brought lawsuits against Trump for his alleged involvement in the riot.
The officers claim Trump’s actions — allegedly scheming to use violence and intimidation to stop lawmakers from tallying the election result in favor of Joe Biden — were “far beyond the ‘outer perimeter’ of his office.”