A never-before-seen Trump deposition is expected to be shown in May, when a lawsuit alleging his security guards beat protesters goes to trial
REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
- A lawsuit from protesters who allege Trump's security assaulted them in 2015 is set for a May trial.
- Trump recently sat for more than four hours in a deposition for the lawsuit.
- That deposition is expected to be shown as evidence in the May trial.
A judge has set a May trial date for a lawsuit that's expected to include a video deposition of former President Donald Trump taken earlier this month.
The trial is for a civil lawsuit brought by a group of protesters who allege that Trump's security team assaulted them at a 2015 rally outside Trump Tower in New York. The case stalled during Trump's presidency but has moved forward since he left office.
"We're pleased to have a trial date and look forward to presenting this case to a jury at that time," Benjamin Dictor, an attorney representing the protesters, told Insider.
New York Supreme Court Justice Doris Gonzalez, who's overseeing the case, ordered jury selection to begin on May 2. The trial itself will begin after jury selection is complete.
Gonzalez green-lighted a deposition of Trump earlier this month to be used as evidence in the case. Attorneys for the protesters deposed the former president for more than four hours in Trump Tower on October 18.
The protesters sued Trump, his campaign, the Trump Organization, and members of Trump's security team in the lawsuit, which was brought in September 2015.
Their attorneys subpoenaed Trump in the case, saying in court filings that the guards attacked their clients as part of their official duties. They cited Trump's comments at rallies in which he told attendees to be violent toward people who disrupted his events.
Trump declined to answer only "a handful" of questions in the deposition, according to Dictor, who is also an attorney for the NewsGuild of New York, which represents Insider Union members. Gonzalez hasn't rule on whether Trump should be compelled to answer those questions or how much of the deposition will be shown to jurors.
In a statement following the deposition, Trump called it "baseless harassment" but said he was "pleased to have the opportunity to tell my side of this ridiculous story."
Numerous civil lawsuits have moved ahead against Trump now that he's no longer president.
Another New York state judge has ordered Trump to sit for a deposition in the coming months in a defamation lawsuit the former "Apprentice" contestant Summer Zervos brought against him after he publicly denied her sexual-assault allegations and called his accusers liars.