WASHINGTON (CN) — Former President Donald Trump requested Tuesday that a federal judge stay proceedings in a civil personal injury suit brought by Democratic lawmakers over the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, arguing the case should only resume after his criminal case relating to the events of that day is resolved.
The motion to stay comes just hours after Trump pushed the Supreme Court to dismiss an indictment on election subversion charges brought by special counsel Jack Smith, claiming that criminal immunity is vital to the office of the president.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia paused Smith's case in December after Trump appealed a decision by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan rejecting his argument that his time as president granted him broad criminal immunity.
A D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals panel similarly rejected his argument in February, and Trump appealed to the Supreme Court. The justices granted review of his case, scheduling arguments for April 25.
If the high court rules against Trump’s immunity argument, his criminal trial will likely resume sometime in the fall, and he could potentially face a jury in November just as voters go to the polls to determine whether he will return to the White House.
In the motion, Trump says that much of the conduct alleged in the civil suit is “essentially co-extensive” with the indictment, and he said that allowing the case to go forward could violate his right against self-incrimination. The motion was filed by Trump’s attorney David Warrington of Dhillon Law.
“President Trump should not be forced to waive any of his constitutional rights in this matter, nor prematurely telegraph his criminal defense strategies before the completion of the criminal proceedings,” Trump says in the motion.
Congressional Democrats Bennie Thompson, Bonnie Coleman, Karen Bass, Pramila Jayapal, Maxine Waters, Jerry Nadler, Hank Johnson, Stephen Cohen, Barbara Lee, Veronica Escobar and Marcia Kaptur brought the civil suit in February 2021.
The lawmakers say Trump, along with allies like Rudy Giuliani and members of the extremist Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, violated the Ku Klux Klan Act by plotting and using violence to prevent them from certifying the 2020 election results. Trump and Giuliani’s efforts in the months between the election and Jan. 6 to sow doubt about Joe Biden’s victory furthered the conspiracy, they say.
Trump’s efforts, the lawmakers say, went beyond the outer perimeter of his official duties, clearing him of the civil immunity granted to former presidents in the Supreme Court case Nixon v. Fitzgerald.
A D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled in December that Trump could not claim civil immunity in personal injury suits — including one brought by Capitol Police officers injured by a mob of Trump supporters on Jan. 6,
The panel, comprised of Chief U.S. Circuit Judge Sri Srinivasan and U.S. Circuit Judges Gregory Katas and Judith Rogers — Barack Obama, Trump and Bill Clinton appointees, respectively — unanimously ruled that his “campaign to win reelection is not an official presidential act.”
Trump says his current campaign for president makes a stay in the case in the public interest.
“The appearance of justice is often as important as justice itself,” Trump says in the motion. “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."
The case is now before U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, with a ruling expected in the coming weeks.
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