Trump Can Be Sued for Jan. 6 Riot Harm, Justice Dept. Says

In this Jan. 6, 2021, file photo with the White House in the background, President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Washington. (AP)
In this Jan. 6, 2021, file photo with the White House in the background, President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Washington. (AP)
TT
20

Trump Can Be Sued for Jan. 6 Riot Harm, Justice Dept. Says

In this Jan. 6, 2021, file photo with the White House in the background, President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Washington. (AP)
In this Jan. 6, 2021, file photo with the White House in the background, President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Washington. (AP)

Former President Donald Trump can be sued by injured Capitol Police officers and Democratic lawmakers over the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol, the Justice Department said Thursday in a federal court case testing Trump's legal vulnerability for his speech before the riot.

The Justice Department told a Washington federal appeals court in a legal filing that it should allow the lawsuits to move forward, rejecting Trump’s argument that he is immune from the claims.

The department said it takes no position on the lawsuits’ claims that the former president’s words incited the attack on the Capitol. Nevertheless, Justice lawyers told the court that a president would not be protected by "absolute immunity" if his words were found to have been an "incitement of imminent private violence."

"As the Nation’s leader and head of state, the President has 'an extraordinary power to speak to his fellow citizens and on their behalf,' they wrote. "But that traditional function is one of public communication and persuasion, not incitement of imminent private violence."

The brief was filed by lawyers of 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 President Joe Biden's victory in 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.

Trump’s lawyers have argued he was acting within the bounds of his official duties and had no intention to spark violence when he called on thousands of supporters to "march to the Capitol" and "fight like hell" before the riot erupted.

"The actions of rioters do not strip President Trump of immunity," his lawyers wrote in court papers. "In the run-up to January 6th and on the day itself, President Trump was acting well within the scope of ordinary presidential action when he engaged in open discussion and debate about the integrity of the 2020 election."

A Trump spokesperson said Thursday that the president "repeatedly called for peace, patriotism, and respect for our men and women of law enforcement" on Jan. 6 and that the courts "should rule in favor of President Trump in short order and dismiss these frivolous lawsuits."

The case is among many legal woes facing Trump as he mounts another bid for the White House in 2024.

A prosecutor in Georgia has been investigating whether Trump and his allies broke the law as they tried to overturn his election defeat in that state. Trump is also under federal criminal investigation over top secret documents found at his Florida estate.

In the separate investigation into Trump and his allies' efforts to keep the Republican president in power, special counsel Jack Smith has subpoenaed former Vice President Mike Pence, who has said he will fight the subpoena.

Trump is appealing a decision by a federal judge in Washington, who last year rejected efforts by the former president to toss out the conspiracy civil lawsuits filed by the lawmakers and police officers. US District Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Trump’s words during a rally before the violent storming of the US Capitol were likely "words of incitement not protected by the First Amendment."

"Only in the most extraordinary circumstances could a court not recognize that the First Amendment protects a President’s speech," Mehta wrote in his February 2022 ruling. "But the court believes this is that case."

One of the lawsuits, filed by Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., alleges that "Trump directly incited the violence at the Capitol that followed and then watched approvingly as the building was overrun." Two other lawsuits were also filed, one by other House Democrats and another by officers James Blassingame and Sidney Hemby.

The House Democrats' lawsuit cites a federal civil rights law that was enacted to counter the Ku Klux Klan’s intimidation of officials. The cases describe in detail how Trump and others spread baseless claims of election fraud, both before and after the 2020 presidential election was declared, and charge that they helped to rile up the thousands of rioters before they stormed the Capitol.

The lawsuits seek damages for the physical and emotional injuries the plaintiffs sustained during the insurrection.

Even if the appeals court agrees that Trump can be sued, those who brought the lawsuit still face an uphill battle. They would need to show there was more than fiery rhetoric, but a direct and intentional call for imminent violence, said Laurie Levenson, a Loyola Law School professor and former federal prosecutor.

"We are really far away from knowing that even if the court allows the lawsuit to go forward whether they would be successful," she said. "Even if the court says hypothetically you can bring an action against a president, I think they're likely to draw a line that is very generous to the president's protected conduct."

In its filing, the Justice Department cautioned that the "court must take care not to adopt rules that would unduly chill legitimate presidential communication" or saddle a president with burdensome and intrusive lawsuits.

"In exercising their traditional communicative functions, Presidents routinely address controversial issues that are the subject of passionate feelings," the department wrote. "Presidents may at times use strong rhetoric. And some who hear that rhetoric may overreact, or even respond with violence."



A US Judge Halts the Deportation of the Egyptian Family of the Boulder Firebombing Suspect

A placard saying "Boulder strong" is displayed on a makeshift memorial outside the Boulder Courthouse, days after an attack that injured multiple people in Boulder, Colorado, US, June 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mark Makela
A placard saying "Boulder strong" is displayed on a makeshift memorial outside the Boulder Courthouse, days after an attack that injured multiple people in Boulder, Colorado, US, June 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mark Makela
TT
20

A US Judge Halts the Deportation of the Egyptian Family of the Boulder Firebombing Suspect

A placard saying "Boulder strong" is displayed on a makeshift memorial outside the Boulder Courthouse, days after an attack that injured multiple people in Boulder, Colorado, US, June 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mark Makela
A placard saying "Boulder strong" is displayed on a makeshift memorial outside the Boulder Courthouse, days after an attack that injured multiple people in Boulder, Colorado, US, June 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mark Makela

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the government to immediately halt deportation proceedings against the family of a man charged in the firebombing attack in Boulder, Colorado, to ensure the protection of the family's constitutional rights.

US District Judge Gordon P. Gallagher granted a request from the wife and five children of Mohamed Sabry Soliman, who are Egyptian, to block their deportation. US immigration officials took the family into custody Tuesday, The Associated Press said.

Soliman, 45, has been charged with a federal hate crime and state counts of attempted murder in Sunday's attack in downtown Boulder. Witnesses say he threw two Molotov cocktails at a group demonstrating for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza, and authorities say he confessed to the attack in custody.

His family members have not been charged.

Federal authorities have said Soliman has been living in the US illegally, and US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said earlier Wednesday that the family was being processed for removal. It’s rare that a criminal suspect's family members are detained and threatened with deportation.

“It is patently unlawful to punish individuals for the crimes of their relatives," attorneys for the family wrote in the lawsuit.

Eric Lee, one of the attorney's representing the family, said efforts to deport them should not happen in a democracy.

“The punishment of a four-year-old child for something their parent allegedly did, who also has a presumption of innocence, is something that should outrage Americans regardless of their citizenship status,” he said.

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin described the plaintiff’s claims as “absurd” and “an attempt to delay justice.”

“Just like her criminal husband, she and her children are here illegally and are rightfully in ICE custody for removal as a result,” she said in a statement.

Witnesses describe attack at vigil

Around 200 people squeezed into the local Jewish Community Center on Wednesday evening for a vigil that featured prayer, songs, a short speech by Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and emotional testimony from a victim and witnesses to the attack.

Rachelle Halpern, who has been walking with the group since 2023, said she remembers thinking it was strange to see a man with a canister looking like he was going to spray pesticide on the grass. Then she heard a crash and screams and saw flames around her feet.

“A woman stood one foot behind me, engulfed in flames from head to toe, lying on the ground with her husband," she said. "People immediately, three or four men immediately rushed to her to smother the flames.”

Her description prompted murmurs from the audience members. One woman’s head dropped into her hands.

“I heard a loud noise, and the back of my legs burning, and don’t remember those next few moments,” said a victim, who didn't want to be identified and spoke off camera, over the event's speakers. “Even as I was watching it unfold before my eyes, even then, it didn’t seem real.”

Defendant's family investigated Soliman’s wife, Hayam El Gamal, a 17-year-old daughter, two minor sons and two minor daughters all are Egyptian citizens, according to El Gamal's lawsuit. They were being held at an immigration detention center in Texas, Lee said.

“We are investigating to what extent his family knew about this heinous attack, if they had knowledge of it, or if they provided support to it,” Noem said in a statement.

Noem also said federal authorities would immediately crack down on people who overstay their visas, following the Boulder attack.

Soliman told authorities that no one, including his family, knew about his planned attack, according to court documents. El Gamal said she was “shocked” to learn her husband had been arrested in the attack, according to her lawsuit.

Victims increase to 15 people and a dog

Earlier Wednesday, authorities raised the number of people injured in the attack to 15 from 12, plus a dog.

Boulder County officials said in a news release that the victims include eight women and seven men ranging in age from 25 to 88. Details about how the victims were impacted would be explained in criminal charges set to be filed Thursday, according to Boulder County District Attorney's office spokesperson Shannon Carbone.

Soliman had planned to kill all of the roughly 20 participants in Sunday’s demonstration at the popular Pearl Street pedestrian mall, but he threw just two of his 18 Molotov cocktails while yelling “Free Palestine,” police said. Soliman didn’t carry out his full plan “because he got scared and had never hurt anyone before,” police wrote in an affidavit.

According to an FBI affidavit, Soliman told police he was driven by a desire “to kill all Zionist people” — a reference to the movement to establish and protect a Jewish state in Israel. Authorities said he expressed no remorse about the attack.

The family's immigration status Before moving to Colorado Springs three years ago, Soliman spent 17 years in Kuwait, according to court documents.

Soliman arrived in the US in August 2022 on a tourist visa that expired in February 2023, McLaughlin said in a post on X. She said Soliman filed for asylum in September 2022 and was granted a work authorization in March 2023, but that has also expired.

Hundreds of thousands of people overstay their visas each year in the United States, according to Department of Homeland Security reports.

Soliman's wife is a network engineer and has a pending EB-2 visa, which is available to professionals with advanced degrees, the suit said. She and her children all are listed as dependents on Soliman's asylum application.

The case against Soliman

Soliman told authorities that he had been planning the attack for a year, the affidavit said.

Soliman is being held in a county jail on a $10 million cash bond and is scheduled to make an appearance in state court on Thursday. His attorney, Kathryn Herold, declined to comment after a state court hearing Monday. Public defenders’ policy prohibits speaking to the media.

The attack unfolded against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war, which has contributed to a spike in antisemitic violence in the United States. It happened at the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot and barely a week after a man who also yelled “Free Palestine” was charged with fatally shooting two Israeli Embassy staffers outside a Jewish museum in Washington.