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, The New York Times reports. The lawsuits were brought against Trump by groups of Capitol Police officers and by lawmakers who claim they were injured when the mob stormed the building. But DOJ lawyers argued in court filings that 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 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 suits are the last remaining effort to hold Mr. Trump responsible for his role in the Capitol attack after two Jan. 6-related criminal cases against him collapsed last year. The department’s attempt to place the federal government itself in the lawsuits’ line of fire instead of the president hinges on whether lawyers can persuade U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta that Trump was in fact acting in his official capacity as president on Jan. 6.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. Still, if judge ultimately finds, in the context of these new filings, that Trump was not performing official duties on Jan. 6, it would throw a significant wrench into the Justice Department’s new effort to get him out of the case.
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