Donald Trump Settles Assault Lawsuit After Lawyer Says He Was ‘Staring Down The Barrel Of A Bronx Jury’

Lawyers have slammed the fact that Donald Trump will not be appearing in court and his testimony will be provided via video deposition in his latest lawsuit involving Efrain Galicia, the activist of Mexican origin who alleged that Trump’s security assaulted him outside Trump Towers during a peaceful protest back in September 2015, under his instruction.

Jury selection for the New York City civil trial that is set to take place at the Bronx Supreme Court reportedly started on Monday, October 31st, with legal veterans telling The Guardian that it doesn’t look good for the 76-year-old former president, and he should be very afraid of what the Bronx jury could do!

Law Professor Says Trump “Is Not Loved In The Bronx”

“I’m a civil rights lawyer. If I can get a case into the Bronx, I’ll move heaven and earth,” Randolph McLaughlin, Pace University law school professor and co-chair of Newman Ferrara LLP’s civil rights practice group told The Guardian. “Bronx juries, they engage in Robinhood-ism. They take from the rich and give to the rest of us – their verdicts are always generally right at the ceiling.”

“There’s no limit in the Bronx. They love to give money to the people,” McLaughlin continued. “Donald Trump, as much as he is loved in certain corners of the country, he is not loved in the Bronx.”

Trump Is Expected To Give A Video Deposition Instead Of Turning Up In Court

As we mentioned earlier, Trump is not expected to make an in-person appearance, and his testimony will be provided via video deposition, which McLaughlin predicts will also not work in the former president’s favor!

“If jurors can take time out of their busy days to sit in judgment, you can’t take time out of your busy day?” McLaughlin questioned. “I don’t think it’s going to carry much weight. Jurors, inside themselves, are going to resent the fact. Who does he think he is? He’s not going to show up to court?”

“I’ve said this before and I’ll say this again: the Bronx civil court is the greatest instrument of wealth redistribution since the Red Army,” Ron Kuby, a longtime New York City criminal defense attorney focused on civil rights added. “A Bronx jury is going to view this case with a fair eye and if they find that the defendant is liable, they are going to award massive sums.”

“While the compensatory damages are not great in the standard of major lawsuits – this isn’t Sandy Hook or Abner Louima, this is not a neurologist who had his wrist broken and can’t operate – the potential punitive damages are very substantial, and Trump will be personally liable for those as well as the individual defendants.”

However, Steve Cohen of Pollock Cohen LLP said that jurors won’t necessarily be biased against Trump, and he believed that the jurors will have an "open mind" before reaching their verdict. He said: "You never know how jurors are going to react and one might assume that a Bronx jury would be less receptive to former president Trump than jurors in other locations, but I have actually been on four juries through verdict, and jurors take their job very, very seriously, and I really believe that jurors will go in with an open mind and listen to the evidence."

"That said, there’s a presumption – given everything that’s going on, nobody is unaware of all the other issues surrounding former president Trump – and it’s going to be very hard to separate this particular set of circumstances from the broader questions surrounding former president Donald Trump’s behavior," he added.

Trump's Other Legal Woes

This legal battle is the tip of the iceberg, as Trump is also being investigated for the mishandling of secret documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, while Georgia prosecutors are still in the midst of investigating whether he tried to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. And then, of course, Trump and his family are being sued by New York state attorney general Letitia James for fraud, while the former POTUS is also fighting a defamation lawsuit filed by writer E. Jean Carroll, who accused him of rape.

This post has been updated since it was originally published to include recent facts, which can be found below:

Donald Trump Settles Lawsuit Before Trial Begins

Attorneys for both Trump and the protesters have since told NBC News that the case was settled just before the trial was about to begin, with lawyer Benjamin Dictor, who was representing Galicia and the four other immigration activists, saying "the matter was resolved on terms that they are very, very happy with."

The settlement was reached on Wednesday, November 2nd, with Dictor calling it "an incredible day" for his clients, describing them as "lifelong activists in the community who stood up to defend the right to speech on the public sidewalk and have litigated for seven years." Dictor went on to tell The Post that the other side had been "staring down the barrel of a Bronx jury who were about to be presented with overwhelming evidence in support of plaintiffs' claims."

The protestors also released a joint statement following the settlement, stating that: "The parties all agree that the plaintiffs in the action, and all people, have a right to engage in peaceful protest on public sidewalks." The full details of the settlement haven’t been released yet, but we bet that Trump would have given *anything* to avoid facing the Bronx jury, given their reputation!

Official Statement From Trump's Attorney

Although Trump has yet to officially comment on the trial, Alina Habba, an attorney for the former POTUS, released a statement, saying: "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. We are very pleased with this outcome and are happy to finally put this matter to rest once and for all." That's one less lawsuit for Trump to worry about, but as we stated above, his legal troubles are far from over!