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Trump, the Trump Organization and the plaintiffs agreed to
dismiss the seven-year-old lawsuit over the alleged assault in a
joint filing on Wednesday with a New York state court in the
Bronx. A trial had gotten under way this week.
"The parties all agree that the plaintiffs in the action, and
all people, have a right to engage in peaceful protest on public
sidewalks," both sides said in a joint statement.
Lawyers for the protesters did not immediately respond to
requests for additional comment.
"Although we were eager to proceed to trial to demonstrate the
frivolousness of this case, the parties were ultimately able to
come to an amicable resolution," Trump lawyer Alina Habba said
in a statement. "We are very pleased with this outcome."
The Sept. 3, 2015, incident at Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan
occurred 2-1/2 months after Trump, while announcing his first
White House run, complained about immigrants being sent to the
United States by Mexico.
"They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're
rapists," Trump said.
According to the complaint, Trump's head of security struck one
protester, Efrain Galicia, on the head, while a security guard
attempted to put Galicia in a chokehold.
The protesters, all of Mexican origin, said they had been
carrying signs satirizing Trump's campaign slogan "Make America
Great Again!" by substituting "Trump: Make America Racist
Again!"
Like some other lawsuits against Trump, the protesters' case was
delayed in part because Trump was president.
Trump sat in October 2021 for a video deposition, where he
expressed concern about possibly being struck at public
appearances with fruit, but denied trying to encourage
supporters to be violent.
"I wanted to have people be ready because we were put on alert
that they were going to do fruit," he said. "And some fruit is a
lot worse than - tomatoes are bad, by the way. But it's very
dangerous."
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Mark
Porter)
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