Trump Claims Rally Attacker Is ISIS Supporter

By Todd Beamon | Saturday, 12 March 2016 07:56 PM

A man charged Saturday after Secret Service agents arrested him as he rushed the stage at a Donald Trump rally in Ohio was featured in an Islamic State propaganda video uploaded to YouTube last year, Trump tweeted on Saturday.

The man, identified by authorities as Thomas DiMassimo, was charged with disorderly conduct and inducing panic, Dayton International Airport Police Chief Mike Etter said, People magazine reports.

He was released from the Montgomery County Jail and is scheduled to appear in court on Monday, according to jail records.

A video that Trump tweeted out — entitled "Tommy Hates America" — features a man identified as a student at Wright State University in Dayton, The Conservative Treehouse.com reports. It begins with him dragging an American flag.

It was posted in May 2015, according to the report, but was deleted Saturday. Trump included the video in a Twitter post after the airport incident:

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

At an event Saturday night in Missouri, Trump reiterated that the man was an ISIS supporter and suggested that a judge had failed by releasing him from jail.

"It was probably ISIS or ISIS-related," Trump said. "They find the guy is playing all sorts of, just– let's say music that you wouldnt be liking, dragging an American flag along the sidewalk, making all sorts of gestures ... and he's probably or possibly ISIS-related."

"This guy should be in jail right now," he said. "This is a guy who was looking to do harm."

Related Stories: