On April 29, 2026, Donald Trump's legal team asked a federal judge to hit pause on a civil lawsuit filed against him. A group of individuals, including Barbara J. Lee, are suing Trump, the Proud Boys, and the Oath Keepers, claiming they all worked together to disrupt the electoral vote count on January 6, 2021. Trump's lawyers want to stop the other side from gathering any evidence.
They argue the case has to stop because they are taking it to a higher appeals court. The main argument is that Trump has "absolute immunity," meaning a former president is entirely shielded from the hassle of facing this kind of civil lawsuit.
The filing points out that this protection comes from the U.S. Constitution and the separation of powers, and it is specifically designed to save government officials from the distractions and burdens of a trial. While the higher court looks at this, they claim the lower court simply loses the authority to keep the case moving.
The legal team also insists that the evidence gathering needs to stop for everyone else named in the suit, not just Trump. Because the lawsuit claims all these groups were part of one big conspiracy, any digging the plaintiffs do on the other defendants is inevitably going to involve Trump by default.
If the judge lets the plaintiffs keep collecting evidence - which the courts call "discovery" - Trump's lawyers say it creates a huge problem. Trump would have to choose between sitting out and letting the case build up against him unfairly, or stepping in to defend himself. If he steps in, he loses the exact protection from legal headaches that his immunity claim is supposed to guarantee in the first place. Plus, they argue that pushing forward now might just cause duplicate work; if he loses the appeal later, the whole evidence-gathering phase might have to be redone with him involved.
Trump's legal team includes attorneys Joshua Halpern, Jonathan M. Shaw, Michael J. Walsh, Jr., Caryn G. Schechtman, Jesse R. Binnall, Jason C. Greaves, Gerald A. Urbanek, Jr., and Jared Roberts.
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