Trump to give deposition in lawsuit brought by protesters who claim his security guards assaulted them
Former U.S. President Donald Trump leaves Trump Tower in Manhattan on May 18, 2021 in New York City.
James Devaney | GC Images | Getty Images
Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to be deposed next week in New York City for a lawsuit filed by protestors who allege they were “violently attacked” by his security guards on the sidewalk outside of Trump Tower in September 2015.
Trump’s videotaped deposition on Monday morning will be held in Trump Tower itself, which is located on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan’s Midtown section.
He will be questioned there by lawyers for the plaintiffs in the civil complaint, which is pending in Bronx Supreme Court.
“This is a case about Donald Trump’s security guards assaulting peaceful demonstrators on a public sidewalk,” said Benjamin Dictor, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.
“We will be taking the trial testimony of Donald Trump, under oath, on Monday after years of the defendants’ dilatory attempts to shield him from this examination. We look forward to presenting the video of Mr. Trump’s testimony to a jury at his trial.”
Trump’s s videotaped testimony will be presented to a jury as a result of a prior judicial order which allowed the then-president to avoid having to testify in person while serving in the White House.
A spokeswoman for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump in July was ordered by Bronx Supreme Court Judge Doris Gonzalez to sit for the deposition, which was to be scheduled at a later date.
He and the plaintiffs later agreed that he would be deposed on Sept. 24, but that was postponed after his lawyers came back and said Trump was no longer available for that date, according to an order by Gonzalez last week.
The timing of Monday’s deposition was agreed to by Trump and the plaintiffs, according to that order, which first was reported Thursday by ABC News.
In addition to Trump, defendants in the lawsuit include his 2016 presidential campaign, the Trump Organization, and Keith Schiller, who had for years acted as Trump’s bodyguard.
The suit seeks damages for the actions of Trump’s security staff, during the Sept. 3, 2015, protest outside of Trump Tower, months after Trump announced his run for the Republican presidential nomination.
The plaintiffs, who are human rights activists of Mexican origin, say they were assaulted by Trump’s guards and had their signs destroyed by the guards during the event, which was protesting what they saw as Trump’s anti-Mexican immigrant racism.
Trump’s then-head of security Schiller is accused of punching one of the protestors, Efrain Galicia, in the head after Galicia tried to retrieve a sign that Schiller had ripped from his grasp.