Anaheim, Riverside and the Riverside Convention Center’s operator will each pay $50,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by Reps. Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene that accused the cities of wrongfully canceling their 2021 rallies.
The two Congress members had scheduled a rally at the city-owned Riverside Convention Center in July 2021 that was later canceled after Raincross Hospitality Management Corporation, which has a contract to manage the convention center, backed out of hosting Gaetz and Greene’s planned rally. They filed their lawsuit in July 2023.
Plans to hold the two’s rally at The Grand Theater in Anaheim also fell through. Ultimately, they held a brief “free speech” rally outside of Riverside City Hall.
The settlement agreement has Anaheim, Riverside and Raincross Hospitality each sending a $50,000 check to the Constitutional Counsel Group. In exchange, the cities and Raincross Hospitality will be dismissed from the case. Several civil rights organizations and other groups were also sued.
Gaetz, a Florida congressman, has promised to return to California and hold the rally as planned.
The Constitutional Counsel Group was the law firm of John Eastman, a former Chapman University School of Law dean and Trump adviser, who devised ways for Trump to remain in office after losing the 2020 election. Eastman had been listed as an attorney on the case but currently can’t practice law in California.
The Constitutional Counsel Group’s address is listed at a UPS store in Salinas. The group has filed amicus briefs for recent U.S. Supreme Court cases.
Gaetz and Greene’s attorneys submitted a proposed order to dismiss the cities and Raincross Hospitality from the case on Monday.
When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Riverside reiterated a statement it and Anaheim had agreed to as a stipulation in the settlement.
“The cities of Riverside and Anaheim are committed to upholding the First Amendment rights of all people and groups, regardless of views expressed or of any political affiliation, and welcome all individuals or organizations seeking to hold an event or rally in Riverside or Anaheim,” the statement said.
A spokesperson for Anaheim said the City Council gave general direction and parameters in closed session to agree to a settlement. An attorney for Raincross Hospitality did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The settlement was entered in on Aug. 28 and signed by the involved parties in September and October.
A judge earlier this year rejected the cities’ attempts to be dismissed from the case.
“I am pleased to announce that we’ve reached a settlement with the cities of Riverside and Anaheim, California, and the Raincross Hospitality Management Corp,” Gaetz said in a prepared statement. “In 2021, Marjorie Taylor Greene and I had our First Amendment rights trampled when left wing city council members conspired to cancel our planned fundraiser and rally in California. Needless to say, we didn’t take this sitting down, so we sued, and we’ve now won, bigly.”
