By: Daniella Doria
Another Trump Organization trial is set to begin in the Bronx.
Priscilla DeGregory, reporting for The New York Post writes, a trial in the Bronx — postponed in 2019 and again in 2021 — is expected to start Monday in a lawsuit brought by five human rights activists who allege they were roughed up outside Trump Tower.
The long-delayed case comes as a high-profile trial plays out in Manhattan Supreme Court involving a criminal case accusing the Trump Organization of tax fraud.
The suit — which names the 45th president, the Trump Organization and three members of Trump Tower’s security team — claims demonstrators were pushed to the ground and punched, and their signs stolen, while they protested outside the iconic Fifth Avenue building Sept. 3, 2015, as reported by The New York Post.
“Absent some 3 A.M. surprise, we have every expectation of proceeding with jury selection on Monday. It has been seven long years of litigation, but our clients will finally have an opportunity to present their case to a Bronx jury,” plaintiff lawyer Benjamin Dictor told The New York Post.
The Trump Organization declined comment to The New York Post.
According to The New York Post, the protesters carried three large signs stating, “TRUMP: MAKE AMERICA RACIST AGAIN!” while they were dressed in white robes to parody the Ku Klux Klan.
One guard, Gary Uher, allegedly shoved Cruz to the ground after head of security Keith Schiller allegedly yelled “Get out of here!” and “Take that costume off!” And when Perez started recording the confrontation, guard Edward John Deck Jr. allegedly grabbed her by the wrist and threw her to the ground, the suit claimed.
DeGregory writes that the activists held the protest, which drew about 40 participants, while Trump was giving a press conference about his White House run at the Fifth Avenue building.
That jury will eventually watch a pair of dueling video depositions, to be screened in a Bronx courtroom after being kept under wraps since their taping, according to Business insider
One from Trump will show him swearing under oath nearly a year ago that he didn’t even know about the protest until the next day.
Business Insider reported:
A more recent videotaped deposition from Michael Cohen will show the Trump attorney-turned-nemesis swearing under oath that the opposite is true — that the then-presidential candidate was the one who ordered his security to “get rid of them,” meaning the protesters and their signs.
Trump’s lawyers have repeatedly insisted on his innocence, and Trump himself is not required — nor is he expected — to attend court in any of the three New York City-based cases.
Trump’s busy week in court also includes New York Attorney General Letitia James’ $250 million fraud lawsuit, which seeks to run him, his three eldest children, and his company, the Trump Organization, out of New York state. In addition to the tax fraud case, which is in it’s second week in court.
NY State has gone after the former president from every angle possible as left leaning political pundits dream of some kind of indictment before the mid term elections
