April 1, 2026
A judge ruled that the president’s Jan. 6 speech was political, not official.
A federal judge delivered a serious setback to President Donald Trump Tuesday in long-running civil lawsuits seeking to hold him liable for the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled that evidence produced so far in the litigation brought by police officers and Democratic lawmakers indicated that Trump’s speech at the Ellipse that day was political in nature and not subject to the immunity the Supreme Court has found for a president’s official acts.
“President Trump has not shown that the Speech reasonably can be understood as falling within the outer perimeter of his Presidential duties,” Mehta wrote. “The content of the Ellipse Speech confirms that it is not covered by official-acts immunity.”
. . .
Joseph Sellers, an attorney for Democratic lawmakers suing Trump, welcomed the decision.
“We’re very pleased that the court recognized that President Trump cannot avoid accountability for his conduct on Jan. 6, 2021,” the lawyer said in an interview. “This decision, if it holds up, is going to pave the way to a trial in federal district court on these claims.”
. . .
“We may have a trial in the spring or summer of 2028,” Sellers said. That would be more than seven years after the events at issue in the cases.
Read Judge Deals Trump Setback in Civil Suits Over Capitol Riot.