Ex-Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale is trying to stop Florida from obtaining his psychiatric records so they could take his guns away
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Attorneys for Brad Parscale, President Donald Trump's former 2020 campaign manager, want to stop the city of Ft. Lauderdale from obtaining his psychiatric records.
The city can use those records to decide whether to take his 11 guns away for a year.
Parscale was involuntarily detained in late September after his wife told police he was "ranting and raving" with a handgun and threatened to harm himself.
In a court hearing on Thursday, lawyers for the city said the case meets all the necessary standards to make a "red flag" evaluation over Parscale's gun possession.
Parscale's lawyers said he was acting "like a guy that just came from a Jimmy Buffet concert," not aggressively.
Attorneys for Brad Parscale argued in court Thursday morning that the city of Ft. Lauderdale had no right to take his guns away after his wife told police in September he was "ranting and raving" with a handgun.
The hearing, over Zoom, was to determine whether Ft. Lauderdale has the right to obtain Parscale's psychiatric records and use them to make a decision. Florida's "red flag" law could allow the city to hold on to his 11 guns for one year if authorities determine he poses a significant threat to himself or others.
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In late September, Parscale, who was then the manager of President Donald Trump's reelection campaign, was involuntarily detained by police outside of his Ft. Lauderdale home and hospitalized. His wife, Candice Parscale, called 911 after he pulled out a gun and threatened to harm himself.
She also told a responding officer at the time that she had "several large-sized contusions on both of her arms, her cheek, and forehead" because he "hits her," according to the police report. She later told news outlets that her husband didn't hit her. Brad Parscale was ultimately released without charges.
Bradford Cohen — an attorney for Parscale, who has also represented Vanilla Ice, DMX, and Dennis Rodman — said Parscale was not acting aggressively when police detained him.
He referenced a widely circulated police body camera video of the incident from late September.
"If you look at the video, you could see how he approaches the officers. There is zero opposition to the officers, zero aggression for the officers or anyone else," Cohen said. "In fact, he's kind of like a guy that just came from a Jimmy Buffet concert. He's got no shirt on, no shoes, and he's hanging out with a beer, and then he gets tackled to the ground."
Parscale left the Trump campaign following the incident and was replaced by manager Bill Stepien. Cohen told Judge Carlos Rebollo that he did not want Parscale's psychiatric records to further cause damage to his reputation, and instead called for an independent evaluation of his psychiatric state.
"I think that we can avoid obtaining records that could severely damage my client's career going forward and, and have him independently evaluated by a neutral individual," Cohen said.
Bradley Weissman, a lawyer representing the city of Ft. Lauderdale ("There's too many Brads," Bradford Cohen quipped at one point in the hearing), described the altercation as a "calamitous event" that met the state of Florida's "red flag" law standards.
"There is a conversation between the 911 operator, this concerned citizen, and Mrs. Parscale, where the citizen observes bruising on Mrs. Parscale and asks Mrs. Parscale if this was done by her husband, which she confirms that it was," he said.
Cohen pointed out that Parscale didn't fire a gun during the event, and said he was acting peacefully when the police threw him to the ground.
"I don't think he's classified as a calamitous event," Cohen said. "Certainly it's a calamitous event in his life because he was taken down to the ground and tackled with no shirt on. He came outside with a beer in his hand and he was like, 'Hey, what's up? What's going on?'"
Rebollo said he would issue a ruling on the matter later Thursday.
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