DOJ Might Have Given Trump The Upper Hand In January 6th Lawsuits

A ruling in an unrelated case against Donald Trump this week explains how the DOJ might have accidentally given Donald Trump a strong defense in the lawsuits he's facing for the events of January 6th. The judge in the E. Jean Carroll defamation suit ruled this week that Trump is NOT immune from the lawsuit just because the DOJ is representing him, but if this were to go the other way, it would mean that Trump could easily get out of any liability for the January 6th lawsuits - and it could still go the other way upon appeal. Ring of Fire's Farron Cousins explains how this would work.

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*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.

In a court ruling this week, a circuit court of appeals refused to decide whether or not Donald Trump has immunity from the defamation lawsuit filed against him by reporter Eugene Carol, who says that Donald Trump had sexually assaulted her in a department store changing room in the 1990s. Now, what this appellate court did should terrify everybody because they made it very clear that the DOJ has already given Donald Trump one of the greatest gifts he could ever receive. Let me re, Well, first before I read it, actually, let me just explain a little bit of the backstory. The DOJ controlled by Merick Garland, appointed by President Biden, uh, is representing Donald Trump in this defamation case because they say, or he argued successfully, I guess, that he made the statement as the president of the United States when he allegedly defamed Miss Carol, so therefore it would be protected speech and he should have immunity. The DOJ said, Okay, we'll represent you.

And that's what's causing the problems right now with the appellate court warning us that this sets a dangerous precedent that could in fact protect Donald Trump from not just this lawsuit, but multiple other lawsuits he's currently facing. Here's what they wrote in the ruling under this logic. So long as a president looks like he is engaged in conduct that is of the kind he is expected to perform, like speaking to a reporter or attending a government meeting, he is acting in the scope of his employment. But if that were so, then the mere presence of others would neutralize whatever a president did or said for no president could be held accountable for damage done in front of a microphone or in an official meeting, whether defaming a citizen, exposing, classified national security information or inciting a riot. So that's Judge, uh, uh, Ny Chin, New York City that wrote that. And he went on to say, This is not and should not be the law.

So Judge Denny Chen seems to be one of the smartest judges I've seen in a very long time, and he's out there saying, Listen, if all Trump has to do is say horrible things or do horrible things that would get the rest of us sued to oblivion, as long as he does it in front of another person, he can say, No, I was talking to that person as the President of the United States, and therefore he would have immunity because of the DOJs decision to represent him in the case. Because that decision shows that the DOJ thinks he is acting as the president when he does these things. And as Judge Chen said, that is not and should not be the law.

But unfortunately what the appellate court had to do was they had to say, Listen, we can't decide. We don't have the authority to decide whether or not you have immunity. We have to kick this over to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals if that Court of appeals rules that Donald Trump does have immunity, that defamation suit is over. But not only that, it would also effectively put an end to the civil lawsuits that Donald Trump is facing for allegedly inciting the riot on January 6th.