Former president Donald Trump was dealt two defeats in Washington, D.C., federal courts on Friday. Of most immediate consequence, Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over the criminal case in which Trump is charged with interfering in the 2020 election, ruled that he is not immune from criminal prosecution.
In the other case, of comparatively less consequence though still significant, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals held in Blassingame v. Trump that the former president has not established that he has immunity from civil lawsuits for his actions leading up to the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. This is a tentative ruling: The three-judge panel did not say that Trump could not establish immunity; just that, at this premature stage in the proceedings, it has not been proven whether his pre-riot “Stop the Steal” shenanigans, including his January 6 speech on the Ellipse, were “official” or “unofficial” acts.
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