Photo: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty
Lawyers for former PresidentDonald Trumpare angry about the release of a transcript that records his worry of potentially painful flying fruit.
During the questioning in the deposition, Trump, 75, described why hetold a crowd on February 2016 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa: “There may be someone with tomatoes in the audience. So, if you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them would you … I promise you I will pay for the legal fees.”
“It’s very dangerous stuff. You can get killed with those things,” he said in the deposition.
Trump then said he didn’t know if anyone was found holding fruit at the rally.
He was asked if the same applies to his security detail and whether he authorized his bodyguards to use physical force against someone wielding a tomato.
Donald Trump.Steven Ferdman/WireImage
“I think they have to be aggressive in stopping that from happening. Because if that happens, you can be killed,” he said. “To stop someone from throwing pineapples, tomatoes, bananas, stuff like that, yeah, it’s very dangerous stuff.”
“The unauthorized dissemination” of the transcript “has both extremely prejudiced [Trump] and tainted the mind of the potential jury pool,” Habba wrote to the judge. “Within minutes of the filing, I received numerous media inquiries to comment on the contents of the deposition transcript.”
RELATED VIDEO: Justice Clarence Thomas' Wife Ginni Urged Mark Meadows to Overturn 2020 Election, Texts Reveal
“In short, plaintiffs' counsel has improperly sought to weaponize the media against the defendants in this matter,” Habba also wrote.
Habba is also seeking sanctions for the plaintiffs, including the costs and attorneys' fees and an “additional financial penalty” at the court’s discretion.
Attorney Benjamin Dictor, who represents the protestors, fired back in a separate court filing, accusing Trump’s lawyers of “misrepresentation of factual matters to this Court and for pursuing a frivolous motion for sanctions.”
“Defendant Trump is the former President of the United States and should have the reasonable expectation that all his words and actions will be subject to some level of media scrutiny,” Dictor told the judge.
He asked for sanctions to be imposed on Trump’s legal team for “for filing a frivolous motion for sanctions and for making material factual statements that are demonstrably false.”
source: people.com
