Former US President Donald Trump might face "serious trouble" because two Capitol Police officers have filed a lawsuit against him over his alleged role in provoking the 6 January riot, according Neal Katyal, a former acting Solicitor General for the Department of Justice, in an interview with MSNBC.
Officers James Blassingame and Sidney Hemby, who suffered wounds as a result of the actions of the violent mob storming the Capitol, filed the lawsuit earlier this week. They claim to have sustained physical and emotional injuries after Trump purportedly "directed the mob that stormed the Capitol […] by his words and conduct".
"If you could short Donald Trump right now, it would be a good time to do so," Katyal said.
The ex-DOJ employee went on to add that the lawsuit against Trump was not surprising and alleged that it was actually prompted by the comments of Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell in the wake of the former president's acquittal in the upper chamber of Congress.
"President Trump is still liable for everything he did while in office. He hasn't got away with anything yet. We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation," McConnell said after the voting, in which he opposed charges against Trump.
Katyal, however, failed to elaborate what specific "serious trouble" the lawsuit could pose to the former president.
Trump faced accusations from Democrats, Big Tech companies and even some of the Republicans of inciting Capitol violence right after a number of his supporters stormed the Capitol, killing one police officer in the process. Trump himself urged his supporters not to use violence but dismissed insinuations that his unsubstantiated voter fraud claims contributed to their actions.
Regardless of that, the Democrats cooked up the second impeachment against Trump and passed it in the House, where they exercised control at the time. The Republicans opposed the impeachment and botched an attempt to remove Trump from the White House and subsequently ban him from holding office in the future. Most of that opposition, however, was based on a grey zone in the impeachment procedures, which did not explicitly state whether a former president can be put on trial by the Senate (the trial took place after Trump vacated the White House on 20 January 2021).
