A federal judge tossed out most claims in a lawsuit to sue Trump over the clearing of Lafayette Square during BLM protests

• A federal judge said Monday Trump can't be sued for the June 2020 clearing of Lafayette Square.
• Demonstrators were forced out of the park moments before Trump walked through it for a photo op.
• The judge - a Trump appointee - said some of the claims made in the lawsuit were too speculative.

A federal judge ruled on Monday that former President Donald Trump could not be sued for the forceful clearing of protesters from Lafayette Square last year.

Demonstrators gathered in Lafayette Square, a park in front of the White House, on June 1 to protest the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis days earlier.

The US Park Police, Secret Service, and police officers from other local agencies deployed smoke bombs and pepper balls on the crowds, and then beat them back with batons and riot shields. Within 10 minutes of the park being cleared, Trump walked through it to take a picture outside a nearby church which had sustained fire damage the previous day due to the protests.

In her 51-page decision on Monday, US District Court Judge Dabney Friedrich - a Trump appointee - dismissed the claims against Trump and other federal officials named in the lawsuit.

Friedrich said the claim that the Trump administration conspired with law-enforcement agencies to clear the square so that Trump could stage a photo op was too speculative.

Friedrich also said that the law gives federal officials immunity to civil litigation involving official actions.

However, she did allow certain claims to continue against the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police Department and the Arlington Police Department, agencies which are not covered by federal immunity.

Scott Michelman, legal director of the DC branch of the American Civil Liberties Union - which was among the plaintiffs - said in a statement to The Washington Post that the judge's ruling effectively make Lafayette Square a "Constitution-free zone."

"Today's ruling essentially gives the federal government a green light to use violence, including lethal force against demonstrators, as long as federal officials claim to be protecting national security," Michelman said.

"Not only is this decision a stunning rejection of our constitutional values and protesters' First Amendment rights, but it effectively places federal officials above the law."

But Randy Mastro, private counsel for three of the women in the suit, told The Post that the decision doesn't completely rule out the Trump administration being brought back into the lawsuit later on.

Mastro said that with the case going forward against the two police agencies, they would be able to obtain federal communications with the Arlington and DC police before the clearing of the square that could show how it unfolded.

If the lawyers could prove a conspiracy between the Trump administration and law enforcement, then they could appeal Friedrich's decision to dismiss Trump's liability, Mastro said.

The court ruling came days after the release of an Interior Department inspector general's report, that said the park was not cleared so Trump could take a photo op. Instead, the report said the evidence showed that park police already had plans to clear the square so that they could put up fencing.