Investigators in North Carolina are considering charging Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump with inciting a riot after a protester at one of his rallies was sucker-punched by a supporter, according to a multiple reports.
Advertisement
The Fayetteville Observer reports that sheriff’s department investigators are reviewing whether Trump or his campaign’s actions at the rally “rose to the level of inciting a riot”.
But in a statement several hours later, the department said the sheriff had concluded that “the evidence does not meet the requisites of the law as established under the relevant North Carolina statute and case law to support a conviction of the crime of inciting a riot”.
Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office told WRAL Monday that they are considering filing the charges.
The sheriff’s office said while other aspects of its investigation are continuing, the investigation related to Trump and his campaign is over and no charges are anticipated.
But Trump alone has openly endorsed violent retaliation against people who disrupt his rallies, many of whom accuse him of racism.
At issue is an incident captured on video last week that showed a supporter at a Trump rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina, punch a protester in the face as he was being led out.
In a statement, Trump’s campaign said, “the arena was rented for a private event, paid for by the campaign and these people attended with the intent to cause trouble”.
A still image from video shows a man sucker punching another man at a Donald Trump rally in North Carolina on March 9, 2016.
On Sunday, Todd asked Trump whether he accepted responsibility for the incident because of his comments about using violence against protesters.
INSIDE EDITION later caught up with McGraw who suggested that the protester, identified as Rakeem Jones, could be from ISIS, adding: “Next time, we might have to kill him”.
Also over the weekend, a reporter and editor from Breitbart quit over the conservative news website’s handling of an alleged assault on the reporter by Mr Trump’s campaign manager.
“Now, with all of that being said, and I still don’t condone it, that young man walked up and he made a gesture in his air – in the air with one of his fingers, which was not good and was not nice and was very, very frightful to see also”.
Advertisement
As an example, explaining why he called on supporters to “knock the crap” out of anyone with tomatoes, he said: “If you get hit in the face with a tomato, let me tell you, with somebody with a strong arm at least, let me tell you, it can be very damaging”. “But I don’t condone violence”.
