A federal court on Tuesday denied Donald Trump’s request to throw out three lawsuits filed by four police officers against him for their injuries sustained during the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
In a two-paragraph judgment, DC District Judge Amit Mehta disproves Trump’s assertion that he is exempt from these cases because his conduct was consistent with his obligations as president.
Officers Briana Kirkland and Marcus Moore of the US Capitol Police, as well as DeDivine K. Carter and Bobby Tabron of the Washington, DC Metropolitan Police, say that Trump is to blame for the attack on the Capitol.
Mehta referenced his February decision, in which he agreed with the Capitol Police officers suing Trump for their injuries, in a case that was identical.
Mehta stated in the succinct judgment that the court had already rejected President Trump’s claim of immunity.
The court repeats this.
Mehta stated in the prior decision that because Trump’s alleged acts were solely focused on securing a second term in office, they did not fall under the purview of formal presidential duties.
The harshest penalty to date for the attack on Congress on January 6, 2021 was given to the first U.S. Capitol riot defendant found guilty at trial and was given a sentence of more than seven years in jail on Monday.
Guy Reffitt, a Texas-based recruiter for the right-wing Three Percenters movement, was found guilty on March 8 of five felonies, including obstructing Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 election, interfering with police, bringing a firearm to a riot, and threatening his teenage son, who turned him in to the FBI. Reffitt, according to the prosecution, directed a mob against the Capitol while carrying a weapon, and he requested a 15-year sentence after the judge had applied the terrorist sentencing penalty.