The Dictatorship
Trump’s Justice Department seeks to shield president in Jan. 6 civil cases

In the recent past, there was reason to believe Donald Trump might face criminal accountability for Jan. 6 and his actions after his 2020 defeat. Those hopes were dashed, however, by the results of the 2024 election and the demise of former special counsel Jack Smith’s case against the president.
There is, however, another potential avenue for accountability — a series of civil lawsuits filed against Trump — though as The New York Times reportedthe Justice Department appears to be taking steps to derail this option, too.
The Justice Department made an unusual effort on Thursday to short-circuit a series of civil lawsuits seeking to hold President Trump accountable for his supporters’ attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Department lawyers argued in court papers filed to the judge overseeing the cases that Mr. Trump was acting in his official capacity as president on Jan. 6 and so the federal government itself should take his place as the defendant. That move, if successful, could protect Mr. Trump from having to face judgment for his role in the Capitol attack and from having to pay financial damages if he were found liable.
The Times’ report, which has not been independently verified by BLN or NBC News, added that the legal maneuver appeared to be the latest effort to use the powers of the Justice Department to Trump’s advantage “by effectively having himself removed from the lawsuits.”
For those who might benefit from a refresherin the aftermath of the insurrectionist violence, among those who filed lawsuits against Trump were police officers injured during the insurrectionist violence. In fact, multiple cases were filed:
- In March 2021two Capitol Police officers, James Blassingame and Sidney Hemby, sued Trump, claiming he was liable for the injuries they suffered during the riot.
- In August 2021seven more police officers who were attacked and beaten during the Capitol riot sued the former president.
- In January 2022three more police officers — including two who aided the evacuation of lawmakers — sued Trump, seeking damages for their physical and emotional injuries.
- In January 2023the longtime partner of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died after the Jan. 6 riot, filed a wrongful death civil suit against Trump.
Those civil cases have since been consolidated and are pending before U.S. District Court Judge Amit P. Mehta.
To be sure, even if Trump were to lose the civil suits, there would be no criminal consequences, but they could prove to be politically embarrassing and financially costly. Indeed, let’s not forget that he has suffered several major legal setbacks and defeats in recent years — the E. Jean Carroll case, the Trump Organization’s fraud case, the demise of his fraudulent charity, the demise of his fraudulent “university,” et al. — and those were all civil cases.
What’s more, while the Justice Department has a policy prohibiting federal criminal charges against a sitting president, the Supreme Court has already ruled that sitting presidents can face civil suits while in office, and claims from Trump’s lawyers that he’s immune in these cases have already been rejected by two courts.
It’s against this backdrop that the Justice Department decided to intervene. The Times’ report added, “The department has argued that under the law federal officials acting within the scope of their office or employment cannot be sued personally, and that in such instances the government is the only entity that can be targeted.”
It’s an argument rooted in the idea that those who claim to have been harmed by the president’s actions on Jan. 6 should be able to sue the federal government, but shouldn’t be able to sue the Republican directly.
Will this work? Watch this space.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an BLN political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”
The Dictatorship
Trump won’t rule out seeking a third term — and his company is looking to profit

With President Donald Trump continuing to tease the idea of seeking a third term in the White House, which is unconstitutionalthe Trump Organization is selling “Trump 2028” merchandise to supporters.
The company lists at least two “Trump 2028” products on its online store, including a red hat for $50 and a $36 T-shirt that also says “Rewrite the Rules” — presumably in reference to the U.S. Constitution.
The Trump Organization has long capitalized on his supporters’ appetite for merchandise, but the latest products suggest a blatant attempt to profit off of knowingly unconstitutional talk about the president serving a third term in office. When asked about the products, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt referred NBC News to the Trump Organization, though she said “it’s a cool hat and I suspect it will be highly popular!”
Trump has refused to definitively rule out an attempt to serve a third term as president. He has suggested that he is seriously considering it, telling NBC News last month that there are “methods” that would allow him to do so. Yet this week, he told Time magazine that there are “loopholes” that would allow him to seek the presidency again, but that he does not “believe in” using them.
Whether or not he would actually go to such lengths to challenge the ConstitutionTrump’s interest in keeping up the public discourse around the controversy is self-evident — and serves as yet another opportunity for his company to make money from his political loyalists.
Trump’s two elder sons have taken over management of the Trump Organization since he first entered the White House in 2017, and the company said in January of this year that the president would not be involved in day-to-day operations and that it would abstain from new dealings with foreign governments during his time in office. Nevertheless, the Trump Organization and his other business ventures — which have expanded greatly since his first term in office — have profited handsomely from his success in politics, raising a veritable parade of red flags among ethics experts.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking/trending news blogger for BLN Digital. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
The Dictatorship
Virginia Giuffre, an outspoken survivor of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse, has died by suicide

Virginia Giugna prominent survivor of financier Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse and an advocate for sex trafficking victims, died by suicide in her home in Australia, her family said Friday.
Giuffre’s family announced the news of her death in a statement, saying “the toll of abuse is so heavy that it became unbearable for Virginia to handle its weight.”
Giuffre, 41, was one of the most outspoken women who accused Epstein of sexual abuse and sex trafficking. She said she was a troubled teenager trying to rebuild her life when she met Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwellwho roped her into their circle as Maxwell groomed her for Epstein’s abuse, which lasted years. Epstein, she said, then “passed [her] around like a platter of fruit” to his powerful friends.
Giuffre had named Britain’s Prince Andrew as one of the men who sexually abused her. She sued him in federal court in 2021, alleging that she was forced to have sex with him multiple times when she was 17 years old. Andrew denied her allegations, but the fallout became a national scandal in the U.K., and he was stripped of his royal titles in early 2022. Andrew settled with Giuffre for an undisclosed sum one month later and did not admit to any of the allegations.
Giuffre also hit Maxwell with a defamation areit in 2015and the two settled in 2017 for an undisclosed amount.
Epstein died by suicide in a jail cell in New York City while awaiting trial for his crimes in 2019. In December 2021, Maxwell was convicted on charges of recruiting and grooming teenagers for Epstein’s abuse. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Giuffre’s family called her “a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking.” She continued to speak out against Epstein in recent years and pushed for the release of documents related to the late financier as part of the settlement she reached with Maxwell.
“She was the light that lifted so many survivors,” her family said.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at988lifeline.org. You can also visitSpeakingOfSuicide.com/resourcesfor additional support.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking/trending news blogger for BLN Digital. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
The Dictatorship
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