Lawsuit: Trump’s NC campaign director pointed gun at aide

Earl Phillip (Twitter Photo)
Earl Phillip (Twitter Photo)
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former paid worker for Donald Trump’s presidential bid has accused the campaign’s North Carolina state director of pointing a loaded pistol at him.
Vincent Bordini filed a civil lawsuit Wednesday in a North Carolina court against the Trump campaign and recent state director Earl Phillip. The lawsuit alleges assault and battery, seeking monetary damages for emotional distress. Bordini also says Trump’s national campaign leadership refused to address the February incident.
Wednesday’s lawsuit — first reported by WBTV in Charlotte — says Bordini and Phillip were traveling by car in South Carolina when the campaign director suddenly pulled out a .45 caliber handgun and pressed the barrel to his kneecap.

He referred further questions to his lawyer.

In his lawsuit, Bordini alleges Phillip also pulled his gun on at least four other people within the Trump organization. The behavior was so widely recognized within the campaign that others knew the caliber of his gun, the lawsuit says.
According to the lawsuit, Bordini “felt he could not tell anyone about the incident due to Phillip’s reputation for violent outbursts, intimidation and retaliation. Vincent believed that he could not trust his own supervisor, Stuart Jolly, out of fear that he would try to cover up what had happened.”
“Vincent forewent alerting authorities because putting Mr. Trump in the White House was his goal. But enough is enough,” the lawsuit states. “Guns don’t have to fire to inflict damage. Vincent couldn’t sleep after the incident. If Phillip had flinched, Vincent might have never been able to properly walk again.”
Bordini’s lawsuit says the aide was so fearful Phillip might retaliate against him for reporting the incident within the campaign he temporarily moved his family out of their house so they would be harder to find.
As a candidate, Trump has been an outspoken supporter of the constitutional right to bear arms and himself has a permit in New York to carry a concealed handgun.
The Republican nominee generated a firestorm when, speaking Tuesday in North Carolina, he suggested Second Amendment advocates might find a way to stop Hillary Clinton from rolling back gun rights if she’s elected. Within minutes, Hillary Clinton’s campaign denounced the celebrity businessman’s remarks as an attempt to incite violence against his Democratic rival.
Phillip’s attorney, William Harding of Charlotte, said his client is a law-abiding citizen.
“He has never, never been accused or convicted of any criminal activity,” Harding said. “We look forward to defending this lawsuit and filing the appropriate counterclaims, including defamation of character.”
Phillip became the campaign’s North Carolina state director in November. Since then, the Trump campaign has paid Phillip’s consulting business, Innovative Consulting Services, nearly $65,000 for campaign field consulting. Those payments include about $9,500 in late June, federal filings show.
According to Federal Election Commission filings, Bordini was on the Trump campaign payroll from December through February, earning about $1,000 every two weeks. The campaign last paid him in mid-March, when he was reimbursed for travel expenses.
The lawsuit says Bordini resigned from the campaign in March.
“Vincent became disgusted with the Trump campaign’s lack of corrective action,” the lawsuit states. “He could no longer tolerate working in an environment where his superior could pull a gun on him at any moment.”
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Associated Press writers Gary D. Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Chad Day in Washington contributed to this report.
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Follow Michael Biesecker on Twitter: https://Twitter.com/mbieseck

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