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Judge to Trump: No protection for speech inciting violence

Sunday, 02 April 2017 7:30 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 02 April 2017 7:49 AM ]

US President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Louisville, Kentucky, March 1, 2016. (File Photo)

A Kentucky federal judge has rejected Donald Trump’s free-speech defense in a lawsuit that has accused the US president of inciting violence against protesters during a 2016 campaign rally.

Judge David J Hale in Louisville ruled on Friday that the lawsuit against Trump, his campaign and three of his supporters can proceed. The judge said he had found ample evidence supporting allegations that the protesters' injuries were a “direct and proximate result” of Trump's actions.

“It is plausible that Trump’s direction to ‘get ‘em out of here’ advocated the use of force,” Hale wrote.

He further noted that the Supreme Court has ruled out constitutional protections for speech that incites violence.

Trump’s attorneys sought to dismiss the lawsuit by the three protesters who say they were beaten by Trump supporters at a March 1, 2016 campaign rally in Louisville, Kentucky. They argued that the suit should not be allowed to go forward because his speech was protected under the First Amendment — and that he did not intend for violence to occur.

Two women and a man have alleged in the lawsuit that they were punched and shoved by audience members as Trump directed them from the podium.

The media captured and widely broadcast scuffles during the presidential campaign, in Louisville, Kentucky, March 1 2016. (File Photo)

During his campaign rallies in 2016, Trump blamed violence on “bad dudes,” who were “really dangerous.”

“They have done bad things, and they are really dangerous and get in there and start hitting people, and we had a couple big, strong, powerful guys doing damage to people," he said at the time. "It’s usually the police, the municipal government because I don’t have guards all over these stadiums. I mean, we fill up stadiums.”

The 70-year-old Republican took the oath of office in the US Capitol on January 20.

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