Trump Legal Problems: Campaign Reaches Settlement In Assault Case

Donald Trump’s campaign has settled a lawsuit with artist Rod Webber for $20,000. Webber accused a staffer of assaulting him in 2015 after he tried to ask Trump about a previous assault at a Trump rally, originally asking the court for $5 million in damages.

Webber is known for high-profile stunts, including handing out “flowers for peace” to politicians, asking them hard questions at rallies and vandalizing the wall where a $120,000 banana had been taped with the words “Epstien didn’t kill himself,” a reference to theories that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein did not kill himself in prison.

Webber’s first incident at a Trump rally was in September 2015, when he handed Trump a flower and, when asked about his favorite Bible verse, noting that the Bible encourages people to take leadership positions but says leaders should “be above reproach, sober-minded, not quarrelsome, only married once, and not a great lover of money.”

Webber posted a video of the incident on Vimeo.

Webber was confronted afterward by an angry Trump supporter who pushed him and punched him “viciously in the kidneys.” When he tried to ask Trump about it at a later rally in October, Trump security employee Edward Deck said he would need to go to a microphone in the back of the room to ask any questions.

There was in fact no microphone, and when Webber tried to go back to his seat several men, including Deck and a Manchester police officer, dragged him into the hallway outside and put him in handcuffs. During the struggle he collided with a table, which his complaint characterized as being thrown “headfirst into a table.”

He was arrested but the charges were later dropped. The Manchester police department paid him $15,000 for the incident.

The Trump campaign continues to deny any culpability, even after it settled the case for $20,000 on Dec. 23. The wording of the judge’s dismissal means Webber will not be able to pursue further damages for the incident.

Trump and his affiliated organizations have spent almost $60 million on legal fees since 2015, defending himself from lawsuits and attacking those who accuse him of wrongdoing publicly.

The Obama administration spent $10 million during its equivalent period.