Federal Judge: Trump “Implicitly Encouraged” Use of Violence at Rally

“It Was An Order, An Instruction, A Command”

A federal judge ruled Friday that a lawsuit brought against Donald Trump, his campaign and three of his supporters for inciting violence at a March 2016 campaign rally could proceed.

Molly Shah, Kashiya Nwanguma and Henry Broussea, protestors at the campaign rally, filed the lawsuit, alleging that they were physically assaulted by Trump supporters Matthew Heimbach, Alvin Bamberger and an unnamed defendant in Louisville, Kentucky. The alleged assault followed then-candidate Donald Trump’s calls to “get ‘em out of here,” statements that Trump’s lawyers sought to use to dismiss the suit, citing free speech.

The lawsuit says that Donald Trump stopped his 30-minute speech five times to point out the protesters, and a video of the rally went viral last year:

As The Chicago Tribune reported, federal judge David J. Hale ruled that the suit could proceed, noting that the Supreme Court has previously ruled out constitutional protections for speech that incites violence, finding “ample facts supporting allegations that the protesters’ injuries were a ‘direct and proximate result’ of Trump’s actions.”

“It is plausible that Trump’s direction to ‘get ‘em out of here’ advocated the use of force. It was an order, an instruction, a command,” the ruling read. “Trump’s statement at least implicitly encouraged the use of violence or lawless action.”

Trump’s lawyers further asserted that they couldn’t be held liable as the plaintiffs assumed risk of injury by protesting at the rally, but the judge ruled that under the law, “every person has a duty to every other person to use care in order to prevent foreseeable injury.”

“In sum, the Court finds that Plaintiffs have adequately alleged that their harm was foreseeable and that the Trump Defendants had a duty to prevent it,” Hale’s ruling concluded, referring the case to Judge H. Brent Brennenstuhl to proceed forward.

The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified damages. The judge’s full ruling can be read here.

 

 

Photo via Gage Skidmore on Flickr