Former President Donald Trump speaks during the “Save America” rally at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds on Jan. 29, 2022, in Conroe, Texas. | Brandon Bell/Getty Images
A federal judge has rejected former President Donald Trump’s effort to dismiss multiple lawsuits accusing him of bearing legal responsibility for the violent Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
In a 112-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta said the evidence suggests Trump assembled the crowd and then instructed the rally-goers to march on the Capitol, despite knowing that the crowd likely included violent and destructive elements.
And Trump’s Twitter attack amid the violence on then-Vice President Mike Pence, who was presiding over the counting of electoral votes that would finalize President Joe Biden’s victory, suggests a “tacit agreement” with those who stormed the Capitol and sent Pence and lawmakers fleeing for safety, Mehta wrote.
“It is reasonable to infer that the President would have understood the impact of his tweet, since he had told rally-goers earlier that, in effect, the Vice President was the last line of defense against a stolen election outcome,” ruled Mehta, an appointee of former President Barack Obama.