United States District Court Judge Amit Mehta on Friday issued a major ruling against former President Donald Trump's efforts to dismiss civil lawsuits to hold him liable for the January 6th Capitol riots.
As flagged by Politico's Kyle Cheney, Mehta's ruling contained a explosive section in which he made the case that it is plausible that Trump entered into a "tacit agreement" with the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers to condone their violent activities at the Capitol.
"From these alleged facts, it is at least plausible to infer that, when he called on rally-goers to march to the Capitol, the President did so with the goal of disrupting lawmakers' efforts to certify the Electoral College votes," Mehta argued. "The Oath Keepers, the Proud Boys, and other who forced their way into the Capitol building plainly shared in that unlawful goal."
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Mehta cited Trump's tweets during the Capitol riot as evidence that he at least tacitly condoned the violence taking place.
"Approximately twelve minutes after rioters entered the Capitol building, the President sent a tweet criticizing the Vice President for not 'hav[ing] the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country,'" Mehta noted. "Rioters repeated the criticism at the Capitol, some of whom saw it as encouragement to further violence."
Mehta also noted that Trump tweeted after the Capitol had been cleared that "these are the things that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously and viciously stripped away from great patriots... remember this day forever!"
In analyzing the tweet, Mehta wrote that "a reasonable observer could read that tweet as ratifying the violence and other illegal acts that took place."
Read the full ruling here (PDF).
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