--- title: Donald Trump Sued Over Violence at Kentucky Rally description: Three people say they were attacked or subjected to racial slurs canonical: https://time.com/4278934/donald-trump-lawsuit-violence-rally-kentucky/ author: NBC News article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-01T11:06:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:18.239Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Sued Over Violence at Kentucky Rally og:description: Three people say they were attacked or subjected to racial slurs og:url: https://time.com/4278934/donald-trump-lawsuit-violence-rally-kentucky/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ab80719d246c783/69888d4f0b72e313ec6e8c4e/donald-trump-rally-protester-lawsuit.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2973 og:image:height: 1672 og:image:alt: Donald Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Sued Over Violence at Kentucky Rally twitter:description: Three people say they were attacked or subjected to racial slurs twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ab80719d246c783/69888d4f0b72e313ec6e8c4e/donald-trump-rally-protester-lawsuit.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Sued Over Violence at Kentucky Rally > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=4ba99f83-0bdf-4b16-9e73-4145e70d629a&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Phil Helsel/NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## Phil Helsel/NBC News Apr 1, 2016 11:06 AM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Louisville, Ky. on March 1, 2016. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Louisville, Ky. on March 1, 2016. John Bazemore—AP by [Phil Helsel/NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## Phil Helsel/NBC News Apr 1, 2016 11:06 AM UTC Three people who claim they were attacked or subjected to racial slurs at a Donald Trump rally in Kentucky are suing the candidate and his campaign, alleging he encourages an atmosphere of violence. The suit was filed Thursday on behalf of three protesters seen being pushed by angry crowd members at a March 1 Louisville rally. “Each time he said ‘get them out,’ Trump intended for his supporters to use unwanted, harmful physical violence to remove protesters,” the suit reads. Violence at Trump rallies, at least two of which involved audience members [sucker punching protesters](http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/protester-punched-kicked-donald-trump-rally-arizona-n541991) as they were being led away… [Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News](http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/lawsuit-filed-against-trump-over-violence-kentucky-rally-n548896) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4278934/donald-trump-lawsuit-violence-rally-kentucky/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4278934/donald-trump-lawsuit-violence-rally-kentucky/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Sued Over Violence at Kentucky Rally","datePublished":"2016-04-01T11:06:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:18.239Z","description":"The suit claims Trump encourages an atmosphere of violence","url":"https://time.com/4278934/donald-trump-lawsuit-violence-rally-kentucky/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ab80719d246c783/69888d4f0b72e313ec6e8c4e/donald-trump-rally-protester-lawsuit.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Phil Helsel/NBC News"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ab80719d246c783/69888d4f0b72e313ec6e8c4e/donald-trump-rally-protester-lawsuit.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump","caption":"Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Louisville, Ky. on March 1, 2016.","creditText":"John Bazemore—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4278934/donald-trump-lawsuit-violence-rally-kentucky/","name":"Donald Trump Sued Over Violence at Kentucky Rally"}}]}] ```