DOJ lawyers say Trump can be sued over Jan. 6 Capitol riot

Former President Donald Trump can​ be held liable for the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot as part of a civil suit filed by police officers and members of Congress, government lawyers said Thursday.

Attorneys from the Justice Department’s Civil Division said in a DC appeals court filing that Trump, 76, should not be shielded by absolute immunity from the suits filed by two Capitol Police officers and 11 Democratic House members.

​“Speaking to the public on matters of public concern is a traditional function of the Presidency, and the outer perimeter of the President’s Office includes a vast realm of such speech,” the lawyers ​wrote.

“But that traditional function is one of public communication,” they continued. “It does not include incitement of imminent private violence.”

The plaintiffs seek to hold the former president responsible for physical and psychological damage they suffered in the melee caused by a crowd of pro-Trump rioters who stormed the US Capitol to disrupt the certification of the 2020 presidential election.

Trump has argued that he is protected from lawsuits because his actions that day fell within the scope of his official duties as the president. ​

While the DOJ agreed that presidents merit ​protection from being sued, the government did not take a stand on whether the former president’s Jan. 6 speech at a “Stop The Steal” rally incited the violence.

The Civil Division also urged the appeals court to dismiss the former president’s argument that he enjoyed total immunity from the suit, noting Trump did not dispute the plaintiffs’ contention that his speech instigated the attack.

“His briefs advance only a single, categorical argument: A President is always immune from any civil suits based on his ‘speech on matters of public concern,’ — even if that speech also constitutes incitement to imminent private violence. The United States respectfully submits that the Court should reject that categorical argument,” the lawyers wrote.

Last year, US District Judge Amit Mehta also rejected Trump’s claim of absolute immunity and said he could be sued because his speech on the Ellipse before the riot could not be considered a presidential act. 

“[T]he President’s actions here do not relate to his duties of faithfully executing the laws, conducting foreign affairs, commanding the armed forces, or managing the Executive Branch,” Mehta wrote in his opinion.

“They entirely concern his efforts to remain in office for a second term. These are unofficial acts, so the separation-of-powers concerns that justify the President’s broad immunity are not present here.”

Trump’s lawyer had claimed that the Jan. 6 speech was part of the 45th president’s official duties and fell within the “historical function” of the office as a “bully pulpit” used to “rally the public on matters of public concern,” an argument Mehta also rejected.

The appeals court had asked the Justice Department to weigh in with its views on Trump’s absolute immunity claim, prompting Thursday’s filing.

The lawsuits cite a federal civil rights law enacted after the Civil War to stop the Ku Klux Klan from intimidating government officials.

With Post wires