District Judge Amit Mehta heard oral arguments in three separate civil lawsuits against former President Donald Trump and his allies connected to the Capitol riot. House lawmakers filed a civil suit accusing Trump, Giuliani, the Proud Boys, and the Oath Keepers of violating the Ku Klux Klan Act and conspiring to incite the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection. Things appeared to go south for the former President during the hearing.
Mehta questioned the attorney representing Rudy Giuliani, asking why Trump didn’t do anything for hours after violence broke out after his rally. Trump waited 187 minutes before telling his supporters to go home. Giuliani’s attorney, Joseph Sibley, argued that Trump didn’t specifically call on his supporters to commit acts of violence; therefore, he is not responsible.
However, Mehta wasn’t buying it.
“If my words were misconstrued and they led to violence, wouldn’t somebody, a reasonable person whose words are being misconstrued say, ‘Wait a minute, stop!'” Mehta said.
!!
Mehta notes a long time that Trump didn’t ask the rioters to stop, saying isn’t that ratifying the conspiracy?
“If my words were misconstrued and they led to violence, wouldn’t somebody, a reasonable person whose words are being misconstrued say, ‘Wait a minute, stop!’”— Tal Kopan (@TalKopan) January 10, 2022
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Trump’s attorney said that the former President told his supporters to march “peacefully and patriotically” to the Capitol, but that, too, didn’t go down well,
Judge Mehta said, “That is outweighed by…the number of references to fighting, to showing strength, to not letting the country be taken away, and then having and then calling on folks to come go down to the Capitol building.”
Trump mentioned some form of the word “fight” at least 22 times during his speech. He then called on his supporters to march to the Capitol after whipping them into a frenzy, vowing that he would march with them. Trump didn’t, of course, and instead, the twice-impeached one-term President left the area by car.
And unfortunately for Trump, there are receipts.
Atty (I believe Malone): Points to Trumps tweets after the Capitol was clear praising them and saying they were loved. “This was not an out of control audience, but an audience that was doing exactly what this man wanted them to do.”
— Tal Kopan (@TalKopan) January 10, 2022
Featured image via Political Tribune gallery