AP Photo/John Bazemore, File
In this March 1, 2016 file photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Louisville, Ky.
Lawyers for President Donald Trump are arguing he should be immune from a civil lawsuit that alleges he encouraged supporters to rough up protesters at a campaign rally in March 2016.Trump's attorneys said in a court filing on Friday that the then-candidate was not urging supporters to take hostile actions against the demonstrators at the event in Louisville, Kentucky.
Politico first reported the court filings Friday night.
In the lawsuit, three protesters accuse Trump supporters of roughing them up at the March event. Trump could be heard saying "get 'em out of here" from the stage at that rally. Attorneys for the protesters have argued the Trump supporters who allegedly roughed them up were acting on Trump's declarations.
Trump's attorneys denied that he was giving direct instructions to his supporters - one of whom can be seen in a widely publicized video pushing a black woman and others from behind while people jeered at the protesters from among the crowd.
You can watch that video here:
Attorneys for Trump had argued that he did not want his supporters to use force when he declared "get 'em out of here" at the Louisville rally, but a federal judge in the case ruled earlier this month that the case can proceed because there is no protection for speech that incites violence.
In a separate filing on Friday, attorneys for Alvin Bamberger, the Trump supporter and Korean War Veterans Association member accused of pushing the woman in the video, argued "to the extent that Bamberger acted, he did so in response to - and inspired by - Trump and/or the Trump Campaign's urging to remove the protesters," Politico's Kenneth P. Vogel reported.
Bamberger's lawyers also argued that any damages awarded to the protesters in the case should be paid by Trump or his campaign.
Trump is involved in a number of lawsuits stemming from raucous encounters that occurred during his campaign rallies. Though Trump was not physically involved in the incidents, the events often spurred violent protests and clashes between supporters and demonstrators.