‘Daily Beast’ Makes Wednesday Night Donald Trump Subpoena Announcement

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Donald Trump, the “law and order” president, is once again refusing to comply with legal actions taken against him. In one of the many pending lawsuits against Trump, his attorneys have told plaintiffs that their issuance of a subpoena against the president in order to compel him to testify in court will be ignored.

Two activists who claim they were violently attacked by Trump’s bodyguards, including his longtime bodyguard Keith Schiller, filed a lawsuit against Keith Schiller, the Trump Organization, and the Trump campaign. Although their attorneys issued a subpoena for Trump to appear for live testimony, his lawyers say he will not comply.

According to The Daily Beast:

‘In court papers filed Wednesday, the activists preemptively asked a Bronx judge to compel Trump’s live courtroom testimony. The president and his fellow defendants, which include the Trump Organization, Trump’s campaign, and longtime bodyguard Keith Schiller, were served on Dec. 28, 2018, according to the court document.’

One of Trump’s attorneys, Lawrence Rosen, gave a statement to The Daily Beast. He confirmed that Trump would not be complying with any subpoena.

We are in receipt of the Plaintiffs’ application to the court and legal position concerning the subpoena, with which we disagree, and will address these issues in our formal court filing, should one be necessary.”’

The plaintiffs’ attorneys are now requesting that the judge presiding over the case, New York Judge Fernando Tapia, order Trump to appear as a witness. Tapia shot down Trump’s legal team’s motion to dismiss the case last year, saying that enough evidence existed to prove that Trump may very well have been aware of and encouraged the violent actions of his bodyguards, which violated the plaintiffs’ civil rights to peaceful protest.

‘Benjamin Dictor, one of the protesters’ attorneys, told The Daily Beast that the trial subpoena is “self-enforcing” per New York law. “Since we have been told that he plans to disobey [the subpoena] we have filed court papers preemptively,” Dictor said, adding that “disobedience of a valid subpoena is in violation of New York law.”’

The incident occurred in 2015 outside of Trump Tower in New York City. The two plaintiffs, Efrain Galicia and Johnny Garcia, say that they were protesting on the city sidewalk with a banner that said “Make America Racist Again,” when it was ripped away by Trump’s bodyguards. When one of them tried to retrieve the banner, he says that Schiller punched him in the face and another guard choked him.

The civil hearing is scheduled to begin in March 2019.

Featured image via Flickr by Gage Skidmore under a Creative Commons license