Three protesters who allege that they were physically intimidated or subjected to racial slurs at a Kentucky rally for Donald Trump have filed a lawsuit against the Republican presidential candidate and his campaign, NBC reported Friday.
The lawsuit accuses Trump of encouraging an atmosphere of violence at his rallies by urging his supporters to physically remove demonstrators and offering to pay their legal bills if they are arrested for doing so.
The suit was filed on behalf of high school student Henry Brousseau, 17, activist Molly Shah, 36, and college student Kashiya Nwanguma, 21, according to the report.
Video of white protesters jostling and shoving Nwanguma, who is black, at the March rally in Louisville went viral at the time. She alleged afterwards that the rally attendees called her “a nigger and a cunt.”
Matthew Heimbach, a prominent white nationalist, later took credit in a blog post for helping to “drive out” the protester from the event.
NBC News reported the suit alleges that Brosseau was punched by a member of Heimbach’s group, the Traditionalist Youth Network, and that Shah was shoved. It also argues Trump helped foster this chaotic, violent ambiance by repeatedly telling rally attendees to “get ‘em out of here.”
“Each time he said ‘get them out,’ Trump intended for his supporters to use unwanted, harmful physical violence to remove protesters,” the suit reads, as quoted by NBC News.
Violence is a fairly common occurrence at Trump events. Two protesters were punched in the head at his campaign rallies in March, and a 15-year-old girl was pepper-sprayed in the face Tuesday outside a Janesville, Wisconsin rally.
It’s not the first time the GOP frontrunner has faced a lawsuit stemming from such a violent incident, either. In September, protesters of Mexican descent sued Trump, his campaign, his company and chief of security Keith Schiller after Schiller allegedly assaulted them as they stood outside Trump Tower with a sign reading “TRUMP: Make America Racist Again.”
Trump will simply claim that he was instructing security personnel, and that he couldn’t see what was going on out in the audience. Plausible enough to defend against the suit, unless it is clear from full video that he was urging the audience to get involved.
3…2…1…countersuit. Not only will he do it, but he’ll claim some insane amount of damage for it as a threat to permanently impoverish these people.
Ever since Trump announced his run by slurring Mexicans and Bragging he was gonna make Mexico build a wall and pay for it I have had a hard time keeping Pink Floyd out of my head
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR5ApYxkU-UThe Wall:
One day someone will take him down. It is inevitable. Father Time if no one else. Heh, come to think of it he might try to counter sue ol’ Father Time.
Ugh… I’m not a fan of Trump by any measure, but this shit just makes me roll my eyes. You showed up to a Trump rally specifically to cause trouble, then you decide to get litigious because people were rude to you?
If you are claiming you were physically assaulted, press criminal charges, certainly, but don’t treat the fact that Trump’s followers are racist and said some racist bullshit as your personal opportunity to get rich.