After Donald Trump was quickly hustled off a stage during a rally in Nevada amid a security scare, his son was quick to retweet a message claiming Saturday’s security scare was an ‘assassination attempt.’
Secret Service agents rushed Trump offstage in Reno after they determined a protester in the audience might pose a threat him.
As the agents removed the Republican presidential candidate, authorities quickly wrestled Austyn Crites, 33, to the ground in the front of the crowd.
As early details of the ordeal were being reported, Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr retweeted a post on Twitter shared by special projects director at Citizens for Trump, Jack Prosobiec that suggested Trump had survived a murder attempt.
‘Hillary ran away from rain today. Trump is back on stage minutes after assassination attempt,’ Posobiec tweeted.
Donald Trump Jr retweeted the message along with Trump campaign social media director Dan Scavino Jr also retweeted the post calling the incident an assassination attempt.
The Secret Service said they never found a weapon and called the fracas ‘a commotion’ in a statement. News reporters and others on social media were quick to call out Prosobiec and others who described the incident as an assassination attempt or attempted murder.
Trump’s social media director + his son tweeted about an “assassination attempt.” That was obviously inaccurate,’ Jose A DelReal, national political reporter for the Washington Post wrote.
While introducing Trump ahead of his rally in later on Saturday in Denver, one of the speakers also described the incident as an attempted murder.
‘You attack him every time, thinking he raises a speech of hate,’ Mohana said.
‘Tonight I think, the hate [that a] lot of [the] media raised against him caused an attempt of murder against him in Nevada.’
A senior Trump campaign official told DailyMail.com that Crites, whom rally-goers already identified as an anti-Trump protester, caused a panic when he reached into his waistband.
At that point, the campaign official said, a voice called out: ‘He’s got a gun!’
Trump’s protective detail sprang into action, pulling him offstage as a sea of bodies scattered, screams rang out and authorities dragged Crites away as he kicked and strained.
One witness told source that a holstered gun was spotted on the hip of a plainclothes officer, adding to the confusion.
Just before the fracas, Trump could be seen shielding his eyes from the lights in order to peer into the crowd as a struggle broke out.
Three agents then stormed the stage and hustled the Republican presidential candidate away.
Crites, who has since been released, appeared on local newscasts saying he had merely been holding a sign that read ‘Republicans Against Trump.’
When he reached into his waistband, however, police and good Samaritans took the man down.
The crowd surged backward in fright and strained against metal barriers enclosing the press section.
Witness Donald Newton, 45, of California who was in the crowd at the time, said he was next to Crites, who he said was holding a sign and started heading toward the stage.
‘He had something on his belly. I don’t know what it was,’ Newton told the Reno Gazette Journal.
‘Somebody yelled “gun” and everyone jumped on him. My friend put his knee on his head, but he kept getting up.’
Crites identifies as a Republican who supports Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, according to his Facebook page.
While he is a Republican, he has a couple of posts on his Facebook with Clinton’s logo and an American flag with the words, ‘Nevada Republicans proudly voting for Secretary Clinton.’
‘I understand that this election has people torn, but we must chose HOPE over HATE,’ one post appearing on his Facebook page read.
Later on Saturday he wrote a post on his Facebook, which was slammed with negative comments and appears to have since been taken down, recounting Saturday’s ordeal.
‘Hi all, Not sure if you saw the news today, but I was beat up at a Trump rally for holding a sign and falsely accused of having a gun. I am ok and have been released,’ Crites wrote.
‘I have NO connection to the Clinton campaign apart from me supporting her HOPE over Trump’s HATE.’
‘I have canvassed for her for about 3 hours, have contributed to her campaign, and voted for her.’
Later on Saturday he wrote a post on his Facebook, which was slammed with negative comments and appears to have since been taken down, recounting Saturday’s ordeal
‘Though I do not agree with many of Hillary’s policies, we cannot allow a fascist/dictator to take our beloved freedoms to simply boost his ego and “get back” at anyone who disagrees,’ he continued.
‘Take what happened to me tonight as a classic example of dictator incident of violence – against your own Republican brother with a stupid sign.
‘I am a Republican and cannot support Trump and his decisive rhetoric. This election cycle we all know what we need to do. PLEASE STAND UP WITH ME AND STOP TRUMP!’
The Secret Service said a thorough investigation into the incident is ongoing.
A short time after the fracas, Trump returned onstage and addressed the audience as he continued his rally speech, appearing unrattled by the scuffle and spoke with his usual self-confidence.
‘Nobody said it was going to be easy for us,’ he declared. ‘But we will never be stopped. Never, never be stopped.’
‘I want to thank the Secret Service. These guys are fantastic. They don’t get enough credit. They don’t get enough credit. They’re amazing people.’
Trump had spotted the protester and described him as a Hillary Clinton supporter before asking security to ‘take him out.’
As he returned to his speech, he thanked a group of fans near the stage who had stepped in to subdue his would-be attacker.
No comments:
Post a Comment