The Daily Fuckup

A federal judge in Washington ruled on April 1, 2026 that Donald Trump cannot use presidential immunity to wipe out most civil claims accusing him of helping fuel the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. The ruling keeps the long-running damages cases moving forward, but it does not eliminate immunity for every part of the day’s events. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/13ce62c37c69a82e5748ce6ba4fc8ebb?utm_source=openai))

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta said Trump’s rally speech on the Ellipse and other non-official actions can proceed in the civil case, while drawing a line around conduct the court viewed as official. That includes remarks from the Rose Garden during the riot and contacts with Justice Department officials, which the judge said are protected from civil liability. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/13ce62c37c69a82e5748ce6ba4fc8ebb?utm_source=openai))

The case is one of the last major Jan. 6 civil suits still alive, brought by lawmakers and Capitol Police officers who say Trump’s words and actions helped set off the violence that injured officers and disrupted the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 victory. Mehta’s order does not decide the merits of those claims; it only clears the way for plaintiffs to keep litigating the non-official conduct they say falls outside presidential immunity. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/13ce62c37c69a82e5748ce6ba4fc8ebb?utm_source=openai))

Trump has long argued that his election-fight conduct was part of his presidential duties. The court’s ruling narrows that defense by separating campaign-style or post-election conduct from acts the judge deemed official. For now, that means the lawsuits survive, and the parties move on to the next phase of a case that has been pending for years. ([apnews.com](https://apnews.com/article/13ce62c37c69a82e5748ce6ba4fc8ebb?utm_source=openai))