Multiple Trump campaign officials declined to comment, as did the campaign’s lawyer and lawyers for the two plaintiffs. | Getty Trump campaign appears to settle texting lawsuit After the campaign moved a lot of money to its lawyers, two people suing the organization over robo-texting dropped their suit.

President Donald Trump’s campaign appears to have settled a lawsuit over its use of mass text messages.

The lawsuit surrounds two Chicago-area people who sued the Trump campaign last year over texting, claiming the campaign used auto-dialing equipment to blast out bulk messages in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Law firm Locke Lord defended Trump’s campaign, arguing the law violates the First Amendment protections of free speech.


According to the campaign’s Federal Election Commission filing, it paid $200,000 to Locke Lord on Dec. 27. Then, on Jan. 11, the plaintiffs dropped the case. They did not submit a settlement for the judge to approve or say why they were withdrawing their claims.

Multiple Trump campaign officials declined to comment, as did the campaign’s lawyer and lawyers for the two plaintiffs. The $200,000 was different from the previous payments to Locke Lord because it was much larger and in a round number, suggesting — alongside the timing of the plaintiffs’ decision to drop their claims — that the money was used to settle the case.

After Trump won the election, the case created the unusual situation where the government had to consider defending a law against its own president. The Justice Department decided not to step in on Nov. 21.

The Justice Department can intervene any time a law’s constitutionality is challenged. Its court filing did not say why it decided to pass on this case. The department didn’t answer a request for comment.

A government ethics watchdog said the case resembles other conflicts of interest pitting Trump against parts of the government he now controls, such as the federal agency that leases him the building for his Washington hotel.

“Can we really trust the government to go after the president when he’s the head of the government?” said Jordan Libowitz, a spokesman for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “It looks like we’re going to see more and more of that.”

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act outlaws auto-dialing text messages except in emergencies and when users consent.

In court records, Trump campaign lawyer Martin Jaszczuk said plaintiffs failed to prove the campaign used auto-dialing. He also argued the law is unconstitutional because it favors some forms of speech over others by allowing debt-collection calls from not political messages.

In November, Trump agreed to pay $25 million to settle fraud claims against his for-profit education company, Trump University.