Report: ISIS Connection of Trump Rally Attacker Apparent Hoax

GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Sunday defended sharing a video on social media purporting to link a man who rushed the stage at a Saturday to the Islamic State (ISIS.)

The video shows Thomas DiMassimo dragging an American flag along the ground during a protest, but it has Arabic music playing over the video and claims DiMassimo is an ISIS supporter. That part of the video was reported by BuzzFeed to have been posted to mock DiMassimo for having dragged and stood on the flag during a protest.

Trump tweeted the video later on Saturday and mentioned it at another rally that night. 

USSS did an excellent job stopping the maniac running to the stage. He has ties to ISIS. Should be in jail! https://t.co/tkzbHg7wyD?ssr=true

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 12, 2016

Trump was a guest Sunday on ""Meet the Press" and was asked by moderator Chuck Todd whether he had gone to far in the ISIS allegation.

"No, no," Trump said. "He was dragging the flag along the ground, and he had Internet chatter with ISIS and about ISIS. So I don't know if he was or not, but all we did was put out what he had on his Internet."

Trump suggested he check the video before asking about

"We have checked it. That's my point, sir. There's no ties to ISIS for this man," Todd sasid. "And this video that you link to appears to be a hoax."

"OK. Well, was it a hoax that he's dragging the flag? Was that him? It looked like the same man to me," Trump said. "He was dragging a flag along the ground. And he was playing a certain type of music. And supposedly there was chatter about ISIS. Now, I don't know. What do I know about it? All I know is what's on the Internet. And I don't like to see a man dragging the American flag along the ground in a mocking fashion."