Legal Brawl Over 2016 Trump Campaign Rally Violence Escalates

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump will get a second chance to extinguish a lawsuit by protesters who want him to answer personally to their claim that he incited violence against them at a Kentucky rally when he was a candidate.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati said it will hear Trump’s arguments for dismissing the suit, after a lower-court judge ruled it should go forward. The appeals court cited the exceptional nature of the case, including a bid by the plaintiffs to depose Trump in Kentucky.

Three protesters at the Louisville rally on March 1, 2016, claim they were violently kicked out of the event after Trump encouraged the crowd to “get ’em out of here." A video of Trump supporters repeatedly shoving one of the plaintiffs, college student Kashiya Nwanguma, went viral during the campaign.

"We are convinced that a panel of this court should ensure that the Kentucky claim rests on a solid footing before permitting litigation to continue," the appeals court said in Wednesday’s order.

The men who engaged in the violence also sued Trump in a separate case, accusing him of "inspiring" their behavior. At earlier rallies Trump had promised to pay his supporters’ legal fees if they got in trouble. The victims of the abuse sued the two men who threw them out, as well as Trump. Trump has denied the claims.

To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Larson in New York at elarson4@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Peter Blumberg, Elizabeth Wollman

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