A video deposition of Donald Trump testifying about his controversial rhetoric on immigration could be made public on Friday, potentially providing his Democratic opponent with new fodder just weeks before Election Day.
The deposition was filmed earlier this summer as part of two legal disputes between Trump and chefs Jose Andres and Geoffrey Zakarian, who had planned to open restaurants in the Republican presidential nominee’s new D.C. hotel but reneged on their contracts following his controversial comments about Mexican immigrants.
A request by Trump’s attorneys that the video be kept sealed was denied in an order released Thursday evening by D.C. Superior Court Judge Brian Holeman. The order was first reported by Politico.
“This Court finds that Plaintiff has not demonstrated that any subject video deposition contains scandalous, libelous, or other unduly prejudicial material warranting denial of media access,” Holeman wrote. “The public shall not be held captive by the suggested eventuality of partisan editing in a manner unfavorable to Plaintiff or the deponents.”
Holeman’s decision comes after a series of media outlets — including CNN, NBC, ABC, The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post — requested the release of the videotaped deposition in separate legal motions.
Similar requests for Trump’s depositions in two civil lawsuits involving his now-defunct online college were denied last month by U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel, whom Trump had previously accused of being biased against him because of his Mexican heritage. Because transcripts of those depositions had already been released, Curiel said there was no compelling reason to make the videos public.
Holeman said the possibility that soundbites from Trump’s depositions could be used in attack ads against him is “inherently speculative” and cannot be used as an argument to keep them sealed since the recordings do not contain “‘scandalous [or] libelous material,’ testimony concerning indiscreet personal conduct, or material unduly prejudicing the privacy interests of a third party.”
“The public shall not be held captive by the suggested eventuality of partisan editing in a manner unfavorable to Plaintiff or the deponents,” he wrote.
A spokeswoman for the Trump campaign did not return the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
