Former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the United States' 2020 presidential results have led to not only two criminal indictments — one being prosecuted by special counsel Jack Smith for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the other by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for the State of Georgia — but also, civil lawsuits blaming Trump for the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol Building.
Trump asked U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta to pause those lawsuits, which were brought by members of Congress and police officers who were present when the Capitol was under attack. But the federal judge, according to ABC News and Politico, has denied Trump's request.
The presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee asked Mehta to pause the lawsuits until Smith's criminal case is resolved. Trump claims that Smith's case should be dismissed because he was still president in late 2020/early 2021 and therefore, enjoys presidential immunity from prosecution — a matter the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to examine.
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Politico's Kyle Cheney reports, "Trump had urged Mehta to sideline the lawsuits in part because he argued that disclosing details about his claim of presidential immunity could undermine his criminal defense. But Mehta rejected that argument."
Mehta wrote, "Both cases center on the former President's actions in the lead up to and on January 6, 2021. But Defendant overstates the significance of that factual overlap in the present posture of these matters."
The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on Trump's presidential immunity claim on Thursday, April 25. Trump asked Mehta to wait and hear what the High Court has to say, but Mehta ruled that "there is no reason to wait on the Supreme Court's decision."
Mehta wrote, "This court is unlikely to make an immunity determination before the end of the Supreme Court's term. Thus, if the Court's ruling on criminal immunity is relevant to the outcome here, it can easily be applied."
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Mehta's ruling comes at a time when Trump is on trial in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr.'s criminal hush money/falsifying business records prosecution.
With 12 jurors having been seated in that New York State case, opening arguments may begin as early as Monday, April 22 — the date that Justice Juan Merchan has mentioned.
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