Congress
Trump fights Jan. 6 civil lawsuits on 4th anniversary of riot
A lawyer for Donald Trump argued Monday that the Supreme Court ruling last summer granting him criminal immunity for some official acts also bolsters his case to escape liability in civil suits filed against him related to the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
As proceedings to certify Trump’s 2024 victory were getting underway at the Capitol Monday, Trump’s attorneys and lawyers for Democratic lawmakers suing him squared off at a virtual hearing to address the status of one of eight lawsuits the president-elect faces alleging that his actions and statements fueled the violence that broke out four years ago.
Attorney Jonathan Shaw told U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta that the Supreme Court’s decision last July provides “further insight” into the legal standard applicable to Trump’s bid to throw out the lawsuits on the grounds that they complain about official acts he took as president.
That high court ruling stalled the federal criminal case charging him with conspiring to derail the electoral vote count in 2021. And after his win last November essentially doomed that prosecution, Trump’s opponents have focused on the continuing civil suits as the only obvious mechanisms to seek legal accountability for his alleged role in fomenting the storming of the Capitol and the associated clashes with police.
Mehta suggested an evidentiary hearing might be necessary to determine whether Trump’s entitled to civil immunity, but Shaw said the protection for the once and future president is so broad that such a proceeding would likely not be required.
“We win unless it is absolutely clear that these are not official acts,” Shaw said during the 40-minute hearing, held as in-person court proceedings were postponed due to snow. “Unless all of the subsidiary facts are subject to dispute … we don’t need that trial.”
However, a lawyer for ten Democratic House members suing Trump said the high court’s decision and a 2023 ruling from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals make clear that, to shut down the lawsuits, Trump has to establish that he was acting in his official capacity as president. That includes when he was speaking to a large crowd at the Ellipse on Jan. 6, 2021, and in other actions he took encouraging opposition to the certification of Joe Biden’s win.
“None of these decisions have changed the fact that the burden is on President Trump to demonstrate his way to immunity,” lawyer Joseph Sellers said.
Mehta, an appointee of President Barack Obama, seemed to agree. “It’s your burden. … I’m not sure it’s my ultimate job,” the judge told Trump’s attorney.
Trump faces a Friday deadline to detail his factual claim to immunity in the eight lawsuits. Attorneys for the plaintiffs are due to respond next month, with Mehta indicating he will seek to rule on the issue during the spring. Any ruling is all but certain to result in another appeal to the D.C. Circuit and likely to the Supreme Court.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he is confident Sen. Markwayne Mullin will be confirmed as the next secretary of Homeland Security despite a contentious exchange with fellow GOP Sen. Rand Paul at a hearing Wednesday.
Paul, the chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, sharply questioned the Oklahoma senator about past remarks that he “understood” why Paul suffered a heinous assault from a neighbor in 2017. Mullin refused to apologize for the remark.
“Those two obviously have some history, and it’s, you know, personal stuff,” Thune said. “They’ve got to work through it. I mean, in the end, this is about the job, and it’s about making sure that we got the right person there. I think Markwayne is the right person for the job.”
Asked if he was still confident Mullin can be confirmed, Thune said, “Yeah.”
Paul has scheduled a committee vote on Mullin for Thursday. While Paul’s vote is in serious doubt, Mullin could win over Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who has expressed support for Mullin previously and said Wednesday he would approach the nomination “with an open mind.”
“I haven’t been rocked by some mic-dropping kind of moments,” Fetterman told reporters after the hearing.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin said he regretted calling Alex Pretti “deranged” but stopped short of offering a direct apology to Pretti’s family.
“I shouldn’t have said that,” the Oklahoma Republican said during his confirmation hearing Wednesday to serve as the next Homeland Security secretary. He was referring to his past comments regarding the U.S. citizen killed by federal immigration enforcement agents in Minnesota back in January, who some conservatives in the immediate aftermath labeled a “domestic terrorist.”
It was a stronger concession than Mullin gave just moments earlier, when he refused to apologize for calling Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the chair of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, a “snake.” Still, when pressed by the committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, Mullin would not commit to apologizing to Pretti’s family until the conclusion of an investigation into the incident.
“If I’m proven wrong, then I will,” Mullin said.
Regarding Renee Good, another U.S. citizen killed by immigration enforcement officers in Minnesota earlier this year, Mullin refused to retract comments he made at the time of Good’s death, specifically that agents were justified in killing her. He told BLN in January that agents “had the right to defend themselves.”
He said he would wait for the findings of the investigation into Good’s killing to comment further; Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) countered that the Trump administration is currently blocking state and local inquiries.
A committee vote on Sen. Markwayne Mullin’s confirmation as Homeland Security secretary remains on track for Thursday despite a fiery sparring session Wednesday between the Oklahoma Republican and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, the chair of the panel that must approve his nomination.
A spokesperson for Paul said after the tense exchange — during which Mullin refused to apologize for comments saying he “understood” why Paul was violently assaulted in 2017 — that the committee vote “is on for tomorrow.”
As chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Paul has wide latitude to schedule action on Mullin’s nomination.
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