An attempt by attorneys for Trump to throw out a lawsuit against him for inciting violence has failed. They had argued that the lawsuit should be dismissed on the grounds of free speech and that Donald Trump did not intend for his supporters to use force. However, Federal judge David J Hale ruled that the first amendment does not protect against speech that incites violence and as such the lawsuit can proceed.
Protesters punched and shoved
At the 2016 campaign rally in Louisville, Trump said repeatedly about protesters, "Get em out of here." Protesters claim that they were punched and shoved by Trump supporters when these words were uttered.
The candidate's campaign rallies often turned violent as protesters clashed with supporters in highly charged discourse. A campaign rally In Chicago was cancelled as a result of violence. Scuffles and protests erupted at almost all his rallies during the campaign and the one in Kentucky resulted in the lawsuit for inciting violence.
White Nationalist a co-defendant
Matthew Heimbach, a representative of the White Nationalist Traditional Workers Party along with Alvin Bamberger were accused of assault and battery and are co-defendants in the lawsuit against the Trump campaign. Charges against the campaign include gross negligence, incitement to riot, recklessness and negligence. Nwanguma, Shah and Brousseau filed the lawsuit alleging that they were attacked at the Kentucky rally where Trump was addressing the crowd.
The plaintiffs allege that Trump was aware his supporters would attack citing the now President's reckless directive to remove a black woman knowing there was a white nationalist group in the audience.
Trump's words incited violence
The Federal judge felt that there was enough evidence to support the claim that the protesters' injuries were a "direct and proximate result" of the words of Donald Trump and that his words incited violence.
He found that it was plausible that what he said advocated the use of force and described it in his written judgement as, "an order, an instruction, a command." The defendant's motion to strike portions of the complaint or dismiss it all together was denied. Hale ruled that the plaintiff had sufficient cause to proceed with the lawsuit.
Video evidence had shown crowds of protesters yelling at Nwanguma who is an African-American. The video also shows fingers pointed in her face and she was being repeatedly pushed through the crowd and yelled at.
