A federal judge is considering Trump’s claim of immunity from civil suits over the Capitol attack

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawyers for President Donald Trump urged a federal judge Friday to issue a ruling granting Trump presidential immunity from civil claims that he incited the mob attack on the U.S. Capitol to prevent Congress from certifying the 2020 election results.

US District Judge Amit Mehta did not rule from the bench after hearing arguments from Trump’s lawyers and lawyers for Democratic members of Congress who filed a lawsuit against the Republican president and his allies over the January 6, 2021, attack.

Trump spoke to a crowd of his supporters at a “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House before the mob attack disrupted the joint session of Congress to certify Democratic President Joe Biden’s electoral victory.

Trump’s lawyers say his conduct leading up to Jan. 6 and on the day of the riot is protected by presidential immunity because he was acting in his official capacity.

“The primary purpose of immunity is to give the president the clarity to speak at this time in his capacity as commander-in-chief,” Trump’s lawyer, Joshua Halpern, told the judge.

Lawyers for the lawmakers say Trump cannot prove he was acting entirely in his official capacity and not as an individual seeking office. They assert that the United States Supreme Court has held that office-seeking conduct falls outside the scope of presidential immunity.

He watches: A historian discusses the Supreme Court’s immunity decision and the shift in the president’s powers

“President Trump bears the burden of proof here,” said plaintiffs’ attorney Joseph Sellers. “We submit that it does not come close to meeting that burden.”

At the end of the hearing on Friday, Mehta said the arguments gave him “a lot to think about” and that he would rule “as soon as possible.”

Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat who chaired the House Homeland Security Committee, has filed a lawsuit against Trump, his personal lawyer Rudolph Giuliani, and members of the extremist groups Proud Boys and Oath Keepers over the Jan. 6 riot. Other Democratic members of Congress later joined the lawsuit.

The civil claims survived Trump’s sweeping clemency law on the first day of his second term, when he issued pardons, commuted prison sentences and ordered the dismissal of all more than 1,500 criminal cases related to the Capitol siege. More than 100 police officers were injured while defending the Capitol from rioters.

Halpern said immunity enables the president to act “boldly and without fear.”

He said: “Immunity exists to protect the president’s powers.”

Plaintiffs’ lawyers say the context and circumstances of the president’s Jan. 6 statements — not just the content of his words — are key to determining whether he is immune from liability.

“You have to look at what happened before January 6th,” Sellers said.