A federal judge has rejected Donald TRUMP's effort to dismiss lawsuits against him by multiple members of Congress and the Capitol seeking to hold him responsible for the events of Jan. 6.
In a scathing, 12 page ruling Judge finds:
1) The Judge determines a president is subject to be sued for conduct while in office
2) The judge says there's a plausible (perhaps likely) case that Trump was aware of what he was unleashing at the Capitol — and approved.
3) Trump's team, voracious media watchers, clearly knew election officials had been threatened, Proud Boys/Oath Keepers were responding to Trump's calls to action and Nov/Dec Stop the Steal events had turned violent.
4) He called supporters to DC anyway
5) Amid the violence, Trump tweeted an attack on Mike Pence that his supporters viewed as an endorsement of their actions.
When they left, he told them to remember this historic day, a plausible ratification of their actions.
6) Trump "took advantage of the crisis" to lean on congressional allies to delay the proceedings even further, Mehta notes.
7) MEHTA emphasizes that Trump's effort to explain away his actions as simply using political rhetoric "misses the forest for the trees."
Mehta says that "narrow" view obscures a much darker context.
8) MEHTA says Trump's words can plausibly be considered incitement to "imminent lawless action," a key legal standard.
9) MEHTA also sharply rejects Trump's "game of whataboutism". He agrees that holding a speaker liable for political speech should be rare. But Trump's may be the rare case, he says.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/18/trump-january-6-lawsuit-00010249
In a scathing, 12 page ruling Judge finds:
1) The Judge determines a president is subject to be sued for conduct while in office
2) The judge says there's a plausible (perhaps likely) case that Trump was aware of what he was unleashing at the Capitol — and approved.
3) Trump's team, voracious media watchers, clearly knew election officials had been threatened, Proud Boys/Oath Keepers were responding to Trump's calls to action and Nov/Dec Stop the Steal events had turned violent.
4) He called supporters to DC anyway
5) Amid the violence, Trump tweeted an attack on Mike Pence that his supporters viewed as an endorsement of their actions.
When they left, he told them to remember this historic day, a plausible ratification of their actions.
6) Trump "took advantage of the crisis" to lean on congressional allies to delay the proceedings even further, Mehta notes.
7) MEHTA emphasizes that Trump's effort to explain away his actions as simply using political rhetoric "misses the forest for the trees."
Mehta says that "narrow" view obscures a much darker context.
8) MEHTA says Trump's words can plausibly be considered incitement to "imminent lawless action," a key legal standard.
9) MEHTA also sharply rejects Trump's "game of whataboutism". He agrees that holding a speaker liable for political speech should be rare. But Trump's may be the rare case, he says.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/18/trump-january-6-lawsuit-00010249
