WashingtonCNN —
A federal court of appeals in DC spent nearly two hours on Wednesday grappling with whether former President Donald Trump should be immune from liability in three separate lawsuits stemming from the January 6, 2021, insurrection.
A federal judge in Washington, DC, ruled in February that the lawsuits can move forward, denying Trump’s claim that his conduct was shielded by the privileges of the presidency. But his attorney, Jesse Binnall, urged a three-judge panel of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn that decision, arguing his client was using the so-called bully pulpit when he spoke to his supporters the morning of the attack, and that the speech deployed under that cover shields Trump from the lawsuits.