Donald Trump admitted on Sunday that he was looking into paying the legal fees for a 78-year-old man who "sucker-punched" a protester at one of the GOP frontrunner's rallies earlier in the week, reported
The Hill.
Trump made the revelation under questioning during
NBC's "Meet The Press," referring to John McGraw, who allegedly blindsided protester Rakeem Jones with a punch while leaving the stands of Trump's rally last Wednesday in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
"I'm going to look at it," said Trump. "I'm going to see, you know, what was behind this, because it was a strange event. But from what I heard, there was a lot of taunting and a certain finger was placed in the air. Not nice."
"I've actually instructed my people to look into it, yes," Trump added when asked about McGraw's legal fees.
Trump also told "Meet The Press" that it doesn't mean he supported such actions at his campaign rallies, noted the
Washington Post.
"Again, I don't condone the violence," Trump said on the talk show. "I don't condone what he did. But you know what, not nice for the other side, either."
The punching incident, which was caught on video, has become a flashpoint in accusations being made by Trump's opponents about violence at the candidate's rallies, which has also seen an increase in protests over the past month.
McGraw was arrested Thursday and the Cumberland County Sheriff's office charged him with assault and battery, and disorderly conduct, according to
WRAL-TV.
"No one should be subjected to such a cowardly, unprovoked act as that committed by McGraw," Cumberland County Sheriff Earl "Moose" Butler told WRAL-TV. "Regardless of political affiliation, speech, race, national origin, color, gender, bad reputation, prior acts, or political demonstration, no other citizen has the right to assault another person or to act in such a way as this defendant did."
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