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Justice Dept: Former President Trump can be sued by police for Jan. 6 actions

Justice Dept: Former President Trump can be sued by police for Jan. 6 actions
So the parts that were released today said that the grand jurors believed that some of the witnesses who had come in to speak to them had um committed perjury. That's to say they lied under oath. The grand jurors recommended that uh Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis seek charges um Where appropriate. The grand jury also found that there was no evidence of um widespread election fraud during the 2020 election in Georgia. The next step that we are anticipating is that District Attorney Fani Willis could go to *** regular grand jury to seek um indictments in this case because the special grand jury did not have the power to issue indictments. Former President trump was not one of these roughly 75 people who was who testified for the special grand jury, so he is not one of the people that they believe um committed perjury. The investigation is ongoing and this just draws attention to uh the multiple investigations that he is facing as he uh seeks *** third term in office.
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Justice Dept: Former President Trump can be sued by police for Jan. 6 actions
Video above: Trump election probe grand jury believes some witnesses liedFormer President Donald Trump can be sued by injured Capitol Police officers and Democratic lawmakers over the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the Justice Department said Thursday in an ongoing federal court case testing the limits of executive power.The department wrote that although a president enjoys broad legal latitude to communicate to the public on matters of concern, “no part of a President’s official responsibilities includes the incitement of imminent private violence. By definition, such conduct plainly falls outside the President’s constitutional and statutory duties.”The brief was filed by lawyers in the Justice Department's Civil Division and has no bearing on a separate criminal investigation by a department special counsel into whether Trump can be criminally charged over efforts to undo the results of the 2020 presidential election ahead of the Capitol riot. In fact, the lawyers note that they are not taking a position with respect to potential criminal liability for Trump or anyone else.A federal judge in Washington last year rejected efforts by Trump to toss out the conspiracy lawsuits filed by lawmakers and two Capitol police officers, saying in his ruling that the former president’s words “plausibly” led to the riot on Jan. 6, 2021. U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta said in his ruling that Trump’s words during a rally before the violent storming of the U.S. Capitol were likely “words of incitement not protected by the First Amendment.”The lawsuits, filed by Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., officers James Blassingame and Sidney Hemby, and later joined by other House Democrats, argued that Trump and others made “false and incendiary allegations of fraud and theft, and in direct response to the Defendant’s express calls for violence at the rally, a violent mob attacked the U.S. Capitol."This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Video above: Trump election probe grand jury believes some witnesses lied

Former President Donald Trump can be sued by injured Capitol Police officers and Democratic lawmakers over the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the Justice Department said Thursday in an ongoing federal court case testing the limits of executive power.

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The department wrote that although a president enjoys broad legal latitude to communicate to the public on matters of concern, “no part of a President’s official responsibilities includes the incitement of imminent private violence. By definition, such conduct plainly falls outside the President’s constitutional and statutory duties.”

The brief was filed by lawyers in the Justice Department's Civil Division and has no bearing on a separate criminal investigation by a department special counsel into whether Trump can be criminally charged over efforts to undo the results of the 2020 presidential election ahead of the Capitol riot. In fact, the lawyers note that they are not taking a position with respect to potential criminal liability for Trump or anyone else.

A federal judge in Washington last year rejected efforts by Trump to toss out the conspiracy lawsuits filed by lawmakers and two Capitol police officers, saying in his ruling that the former president’s words “plausibly” led to the riot on Jan. 6, 2021. U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta said in his ruling that Trump’s words during a rally before the violent storming of the U.S. Capitol were likely “words of incitement not protected by the First Amendment.”

The lawsuits, filed by Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., officers James Blassingame and Sidney Hemby, and later joined by other House Democrats, argued that Trump and others made “false and incendiary allegations of fraud and theft, and in direct response to the Defendant’s express calls for violence at the rally, a violent mob attacked the U.S. Capitol."

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.