Trump wants January 6 civil lawsuits against him put on hold while he fights criminal charges

Donald Trump’s lawyers are trying to pause at least five civil lawsuits that seek to hold him accountable for the January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot because of his pending criminal trial, according to filings with a federal judge in Washington, DC.

Trump’s team is arguing that moving the lawsuits forward at this time could force him to reveal his trial strategy for his criminal case. His team also wants the judge overseeing the lawsuits to wait for the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity in his criminal case.

“President Trump should not be forced to waive any of his constitutional rights in this matter, nor prematurely telegraph his criminal defense strategies prior to the completion of the criminal proceedings,” Trump’s lawyers wrote this week to federal District Judge Amit Mehta, who oversees most of the civil January 6 cases against Trump and others.

“The only way to adequately protect against this prejudice to his legal position is to stay these proceedings with respect to President Trump until the Special Counsel’s D.C. case is resolved,” Trump’s lawyers added.

Trump’s lawsuits and his criminal case are delving into complex, historically weighty questions of the immunity from accountability that a president might enjoy. An appeals court has ruled that a president isn’t immune from being sued for actions that were part of a campaign.

Trump’s criminal case is currently paused as the Supreme Court looks at Trump’s argument for absolute presidential immunity from criminal charges.

Trump’s team said that putting civil cases on the backburner wouldn’t be an unusual approach when a person is simultaneously both a criminal defendant and facing related lawsuits.

The people suing Trump – including Democratic members of Congress who were under attack inside the Capitol, police protecting the building who were assaulted by the pro-Trump mob and the partner of a police officer who died hours after being pepper sprayed during the riot – are set to respond to Trump’s request next week.

Mehta isn’t likely to decide if the cases should proceed until after all briefings are filed in April.

The judge has previously signaled he was sympathetic to putting on hold any depositions of Trump in the lawsuits while his criminal case is pending. Trump is guaranteed under the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment privilege to remain silent so he doesn’t incriminate himself, if he wanted to decline answering questions. But declining to answer questions in a civil deposition could be used against him in those cases.

“If President Trump is hampered by the civil litigation issues presented in this case, or worse, forced to choose between presenting his strongest defense in one case or the other, the appearance of justice could easily be damaged,” Trump’s lawyers wrote. “Accordingly, it is in the public interest to allow President Trump to defend the criminal proceeding against him without the burden of this case.”

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