Trump's Attempt To Dismiss The Cases Filed On January 6 Was Rejected By The Judge
Previous President Donald Trump's efforts to have conspiracy cases filed by lawmakers and two Capitol police officers dismissed by a federal judge on Friday, noting that the former president's statements "plausibly" contributed to the January 6, 2021 insurgency.
Judge Amit Mehta of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that Trump's statements at a rally prior to the violent storming of the United States Capitol were likely "words of incitement not protected by the First Amendment."
"Only in the most extreme circumstances might a court refuse to acknowledge that a President's speech is protected by the First Amendment," Mehta wrote. "However, the court considers this to be that case."
The order is the latest illustration of the former president's legal woes. The National Archives had said just hours before that records discovered at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club contained secret information, and that it had informed the Justice Department.
On Thursday, a New York judge ruled Donald Trump and two of his children must testify under oath in a civil probe into his business operations in New York state.
Another court ordered his company's financial head to be questioned as part of a separate investigation by the District of Columbia attorney general's office. Trump's annual financial statements, which were used to get lucrative loans and cement Trump's image as a wealthy businessman, were "should no longer be relied on" earlier this week, according to the firm that prepared them.
"Fight like hell, and if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a nation anymore," Trump warned his supporters during a planned gathering on the Ellipse just hours before Congress was to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election. "(We're) going to attempt to instill in (weak Republicans) the type of pride and fearlessness that they need to retake our country," he continued, before telling the crowd to "go down Pennsylvania Avenue."
Trump's comments, according to Mehta, could have incited others to disobey the law. Similar allegations against Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. and lawyer Rudy Giuliani were rejected by the judge, who said their speech was protected by the First Amendment.