Politics & Government
Donald Trump: Will 'Look Into' Paying Legal Fees for Sucker-Punching Supporter
The Donald may lend a helping hand to one of his supporters who sucker-punched a protester. How thoughtful.
Donald Trump may be be following through on a promise he made to pay the legal fees of anyone who "knocks the crap out of" people who interrupt his rallies.
After 78-year-old John McGraw was arrested for allegedly sucker-punching a 26-year-old black protester in one of the uglier scenes of an extraordinarily ugly campaign, Trump said Sunday morning on "Meet The Press" that he was exploring his options to help the guy out.
Just not the guy who got punched.
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Trump told "Meet The Press" that McGraw "obviously loves his country," adding that he might have gotten carried away.
How carried away? As the protester was being willingly led out of a Trump rally, video shows McGraw swinging at the man's face and apparently landing the punch.
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When asked if he would do as he's said countless times at his rallies — cover those pesky legal fees that seem to accrue every time you show love for your country by sucker-punching someone — Trump said, "I’ve actually instructed my people to look into it, yes."
The first widespread account of the Trump promise came February in Iowa, after he was the apparent target of a couple of poorly aimed tomatoes.
“So if you see someone getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of ‘em,” he said at the time. “I will pay for the legal fees. I promise.”
Trump has regularly encouraged violence at his events.
At one, he said he missed the "old days," when anyone who disagreed with you would be "carried out on a stretcher."
Trump cancelled a rally Friday in Chicago amid safety concerns.
Saturday in Ohio, a man jumped a barricade trying to get to Trump, and Trump was surrounded by secret service agents in about four seconds.
"And a toxic environment has allowed his supporters and those who sometimes seek confrontation to come together in violence," Ohio Gov. and GOP candidate John Kasich has said.
"There is no place for this, there is no place for a national leader to prey on the fears of people who live in our great country."
Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton has shared similar thoughts.
"The divisive rhetoric we're hearing from Donald Trump, and the encouragement he has given to violence and aggression, is not only wrong," Clinton said Saturday. "It's dangerous."
Watch video of the sucker-punch below:
Image via Gage Skidmore, Flicker, used under Creative Commons
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