NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump believed a violent exchange between Trump Tower security guards and protesters denouncing his anti-immigrant rhetoric in 2015 was “very well handled” by his staff, according to a newly unsealed deposition.
Trump made the statements during a sit-down interview with the protesters’ lawyers at Trump Tower last October, according to a transcript of the interview filed in Bronx Supreme Court late Monday.
“I think they were troublemakers, yes I do,” Trump said of the Hispanic men protesting Trump’s now-infamous comments referring to Mexicans as criminals and “rapists.”
“They were very — you know, I guess you could say violent.”
The five men, one of whom has since died, are suing Trump, his 2016 presidential campaign and his former head of security for allegedly assaulting them outside his Fifth Ave. skyscraper.
Video of the incident captured Trump’s head of security, Keith Schiller, a former NYPD detective, smacking a protestor in the face after he appeared to reach for a sign bearing the words “Trump: Make America Racist Again.”
Testifying under oath, Trump said he didn’t witness the incident in real time or give any orders but said he saw nothing wrong with the footage.
“He did nothing wrong,” Trump said of Schiller.
Lawyers for the protesters say they have evidence that then-candidate Trump did play a crucial role in the skirmish and that former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen will testify that he heard Trump order his guards to “get rid of” the protesters.
The Bronx lawsuit is unrelated to dual probes by the Manhattan district attorney and the New York attorney general into the business practices of the Trump Organization. Two prosecutors who led the DA’s investigation resigned in February after almost three years.
A grand jury hearing evidence in the probe will expire later this week, but new DA Alvin Bragg has insisted that the court can convene another and that criminal charges could still result against the former president.
On Monday, a judge held Trump in civil contempt for blowing deadlines in the AG’s parallel probe, which could result in a civil lawsuit, and said he would be fined $10,000 every day he continues to. Trump appealed that decision on Tuesday, new court filings show.
Cohen said the unsealed Bronx deposition proves what he has long maintained: Trump called all the shots at his company.
“Any doubts DA Bragg or others might have had regarding my credibility should be reconsidered as the person corroborating the information I provided to the prosecutorial team is none other than Donald J. Trump himself,” Cohen told The News on Wednesday.
“As I have repeatedly stated time and again, Donald J. Trump was involved in every aspect of the Trump Organization, regardless of how big or small the matter.”
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