Apparently, the North Carolina state director for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is a total Second Amendment person. That is, if a new lawsuit is to be believed.
Donald J. Trump for President is being sued by a former staffer who claims that the director, Earl Phillip, pulled a gun on him, and that the campaign failed to take action, WBTV reports.
In the suit, Vincent Bordini claims that he was driving with Phillip in February when Phillip “produced a pistol, put his right index finger on the trigger, and drove the barrel into Vincent’s knee cap.”
Bordini claims that he complained to a regional director, then a national field director and eventually to former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, but the campaign “neither terminated nor suspended Phillip.”
“In fact, at the time of filing, Phillip continues to work on the Trump Campaign,” the complaint, filed Wednesday in North Carolina, reads.
As the suit tells it, Phillip had a habit of such behavior.
“Vincent came to hear of at least four other individuals on whom Phillip had pulled a gun,” the complaint reads.
Bordini’s suit claims that he tried to hang on with the campaign but that, in March, “disgusted with the Trump Campaign’s lack of corrective action,” he resigned.
A spokesperson for the Trump campaign has not responded to TheWrap’s request for comment.
The suit, which also names Phillip as a defendant, alleges assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress, among other counts.
Bordini is seeking unspecified damages.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.
Donald Trump's 5 Best Hillary Clinton Attack Lines (Photos)
After a week of enduring Hillary Clinton's attack lines, Donald Trump struck back Wednesday. Spoiler alert: He'd like to link her to some scandals. We talked to experts about how effective his attack lines might be.
Getty Images
5. Trump called her "a world-class liar" and went on to elaborate.
"Just look at her pathetic email and server statements ... or her phony landing in Bosnia, where she said she was under attack but the attack turned out to be young girls handing her flowers," he said.
USC clinical professor of communications Gordon Stables told TheWrap the argument is strong among GOP voters, but it’s not rhetoric that changes a lot of opinions.
4. “Hillary says this election is about judgment. She's right. Her judgement [sic] has killed thousands, unleashed ISIS and wrecked the economy,” Trump tweeted.
“There is an argument to be made that the Clinton State Department part of an Obama administration approach to foreign policy, specifically in the Arab world, that was typified the idea of leading from behind,” Politico national politics reporter Eli Stokols told TheWrap. “ISIS has become a problem during the Obama administration. Trump isn’t going to talk about how the roots of it were planted by the Iraq war.”
“It’s a critique of the way Clinton has approached public life,” Stables said. “He’s trying to say there is something fundamentally corrupt about the way she’s approached public service.”
2. Trump called Clinton’s message "old and tired" before elaborating.
"Her message is that things can't change," Trump said. "My message is that things have to change -- and this is our one chance to do it and may be our only chance to do that change."
“He is trying to tap into frustration at both ends of the political spectrum,” Stables said. “Republicans who think their politicians are too moderate and liberal voters who feel politicians are too much in the center. It’s very much an appeal to disenfranchised Sanders voters.”
“Trump, as he will tell you, has made a career out of branding and marketing. There has never been anything subtle about it,” Stokols said. “There is not going to be anything subtle about the way he attacks Hillary Clinton.”
1. In response to Clinton's "I'm with Her" campaign slogan, Trump said, "I'm with you, the American people." "She thinks it's all about her -- I know it's all about you. I know it's all about making America great again for all Americans."
Stokols feels that Trump repurposed Clinton’s catch phrase to make her sound selfish and make himself sound like a populist.
“It hits a nerve with his base. The people who already like him, who listen to conservative talk radio and go to his rallies, they find this familiar. They like the rhetorical red meat,” he said. “But that’s no longer the audience.”
Getty Images
1 of 12
Which of Trump’s lines have the best chance of landing? We asked the experts
After a week of enduring Hillary Clinton's attack lines, Donald Trump struck back Wednesday. Spoiler alert: He'd like to link her to some scandals. We talked to experts about how effective his attack lines might be.