The US Justice Dept. CAN defend government employee’s for ‘official’ actions while on duty….
In this case ?
The Justice Dept. has decided that Brooks speech supporting the protestors in their protest that led to Capitol being overrun with violent Trump supporters was outside his scope of duties/employment….
He is now on his own…
The government will not move to any civil suit against him dismissed….
There is speculation that the DOJ could look at ex-President Trump’s speech in support of the protestors would rob him of Justice Dept. support in any civil action against his also….
The Justice Department declined on Tuesday to defend a congressional ally of former President Donald J. Trump in a lawsuit accusing them both of inciting supporters at a rally in the hours before the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol.
Law enforcement officials determined that Representative Mo Brooks, Republican of Alabama, was acting outside the scope of his duties in an incendiary speech just before the attack, according to a court filing. Mr. Brooks had asked the department to certify that he was acting as a government employee during the rally; had it agreed to defend him, he would have been dismissed from the lawsuit and the United States substituted as a defendant.
“The record indicates that Brooks’s appearance at the Jan. 6 rally was campaign activity, and it is no part of the business of the United States to pick sides among candidates in federal elections,” the Justice Department wrote.
“Members of Congress are subject to a host of restrictions that carefully distinguish between their official functions, on the one hand, and campaign functions, on the other.”
The Justice Department’s decision shows it is likely to also decline to provide legal protection for Mr. Trump in the lawsuit. Legal experts have closely watched the case because the Biden Justice Department has continued to fight for granting immunity to Mr. Trump in a 2019 defamation lawsuit where he denied allegations that he raped the writer E. Jean Carroll and said she accused him to get attention.
Such a substitution provides broad protections for government officials and is generally reserved for government employees sued over actions that stem from their work….
Note….
Slowly the ‘wheels of justice ‘ are grinding down on those who heeded Donald Trump’s call and acted to stop the certification of the rightly elected winner of the 2020 Presidential Election….
Unfuckingbelieveable!
Mo Brooks Wore Body Armor to Jan. 6 Rally
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) told Slate he had been wearing body armor at the “Save America” rally before the Capitol attack on January 6, where he gave a speech in which he encouraged rally attendees to “start taking down names and kicking ass.”
Said Brooks: “I was warned on Monday that there might be risks associated with the next few days. And as a consequence of those warnings, I did not go to my condo. Instead, I slept on the floor of my office. And when I gave my speech at the Ellipse, I was wearing body armor.”
He added: “That’s why I was wearing that nice little windbreaker. To cover up the body armor.”