A federal judge ruled on Thursday that lawsuits filed against Donald Trump over his actions tied to the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol were allowed to advance despite the former president's push to pause litigation amid his related criminal case in Washington, D.C.
The order by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta was issued while Trump appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court for day three of jury selection in his criminal hush-money trial, in which Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection to a payment made to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election.
Trump's defense team argued in a court filing to Mehta last month that the lawsuits—which were brought against Trump by a handful of police officers and Democratic lawmakers who were at the Capitol during the attack—should be paused while his federal election subversion charges play out in D.C.
That case, brought by Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith, is set to appear before the U.S. Supreme Court next week as justices consider Trump's argument that presidential immunity protects him from facing criminal charges for actions he took while in office.
The former president has sought to use the presidential immunity defense to shield himself from a plethora of criminal and civil challenges. He also argued to Mehta in his previous motion that moving the January 6 lawsuits forward could reveal his trial strategy for the criminal election case, and that the suits should be stayed until the Supreme Court rules on the immunity claim.
Mehta on Thursday rejected the request, ordering Trump to provide a "detailed description of the basis for his immunity defense" regarding the lawsuits by May 1. The judge also wrote that his court was "unlikely to make an immunity determination before the end of the Supreme Court's term. Thus, if the Court's ruling on criminal immunity is relevant to the outcome here, it can easily be applied."
The judge also dismissed Trump's argument that moving forward with his civil trial could reveal his court strategy for his criminal case, writing that while "both cases center on the former President's actions in the lead up to and on January 6, 2021," the "Defendant overstates the significance of that factual overlap in the present posture of these matters."
Newsweek reached out to Trump's campaign team for comment via email Thursday afternoon.
Mehta, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, has also presided over cases involving others charged in the January 6 riot, including the leader of far-right Oath Keepers group, Stewart Rhodes, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison for his ill-fated efforts to overturn the 2020 election win by President Joe Biden.
The judge also oversaw the criminal trial of Peter Navarro, a former Trump aide who last month was sentenced to four months in prison after not complying with two subpoenas issued by the House committee investigating the January 6 attack.
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