GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Monday told his supporters to physically attack any protesters threatening to throw tomatoes at him and that he'd handle paying their lawyers.
After telling a crowd in Cedar Rapids, Iowa that the "wonderful security guys" had warned him a tomato attack was a distinct possibility, he issued a warning of his own,
according to Mediaite.
"There may be somebody with tomatoes in the audience. So if you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously. OK?" Trump said. "Just knock the hell — I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees. I promise, I promise. It won’t be so much 'cause the courts agree with us, too."
A protester was arrested at an Iowa Trump rally last Tuesday for throwing tomatoes at the candidate.
Trump has been criticized in the past for saying a Black Lives Matter protester in Birmingham, Alabama maybe should have been roughed up after his rallygoers punched and kicked him. He also suggested security keep the coat of a heckler in Burlington, Vermont when it was near zero-degrees outside.
At other times, Trump has backed away from such statements over the criticism he is encouraging violence.
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