- Donald Trump wants a Bronx judge to sanction the lawyers who released a transcript of him worrying about fruit.
- Those lawyers in turn want Trump's side sanctioned for claiming the transcript was released in "bad faith."
- The fruit fracas is part of an ongoing lawsuit alleging Trump sicced his security guards on protesters outside Trump Tower in 2015.
Life will not be just a bowl of cherries next month, when Donald Trump's angry lawyers will fight with some other angry lawyers over a transcript that shows the former president worrying — worrying a lot, actually — about fruit.
Each side will ask a Bronx judge on June 20 to sanction the other side, and all because of the embarrassing transcript, released last week as part of a lawsuit by protesters who say Trump sicced his security on them during a 2015 demonstration outside Trump Tower.
Kumquat what may at the hearing — which will be held before New York Supreme Court Justice Doris Gonzalez — there's already enough heat to flambe a fruit cart.
In papers filed Tuesday, Trump's side said the fruited transcript's release was "palpably improper" and will taint the jury, and the other side demanded a fine and legal fees for being accused of releasing the transcript in "bad faith."
Each side used the word "frivolous" in describing the other, a word that is the legal equivalent of a white glove smacked across the nose.
"The unauthorized dissemination" of the transcript "has both extremely prejudiced [Trump] and tainted the mind of the potential jury pool," Trump attorney Alina Habba wrote the judge.
"Within minutes of the filing, I received numerous media inquiries to comment on the contents of the deposition transcript," she wrote, complaining that the coverage of the "irrelevant" fruit matter will prejudice a potential jury in the protester lawsuit.
An original jury selection date of May 2 has been pushed back, also until June 20, as the sides battle over side issues.
A lawyer for the protesters, Benjamin Dictor, countered in his own papers that Trump had fair warning from his office that the deposition would come out.
Besides, "Defendant Trump is the former President of the United States and should have the reasonable expectation that all his words and actions will be subject to some level of media scrutiny," he wrote.
Portions of the deposition were released by the protesters' lawyers last week as part of making a case for subpoenaing the former president's one-time lawyer and "fixer" Michael Cohen, something Trump's side is fighting.
Cohen is prepared to directly contradict Trump's sworn claim, nestled among the fruit references in the deposition, that he did not authorize his security to beat protesters, their lawyers have said.
Cohen counters that he was there that day, on Sept. 3, 2015, when a group of protesters of Mexican heritage gathered outside Trump Tower holding parody "Make America Racist Again" signs to protest Trump calling immigrants "rapists" and drug dealers.
Trump directly ordered his security to grab the signs, Cohen will testify, in direct contradiction to Trump's deposition, the protesters' lawyers have said.
"Pineapples, tomatoes, bananas, stuff like that," all could have been thrown at him during events, Trump had said under oath back in October, when asked by Dictor for more detail on supposed "threats" that his security has had to deal with.
"It's very dangerous stuff," Trump had worried in his testimony. "You can get killed with those things."