I would like a statement by the Justice Department and the president on what if anything law enforcement and the Civil Rights division are doing about all of this. This just gets more and more ominous.
Asked about the incident on ABC’s “This Week,” Mr. Trump allowed that the beating was “a tough thing to watch,” but he refused to condemn the assault. He offered harsher words for the victim, saying he had been accompanied by another protester provocatively wearing a Ku Klux Klan costume.
“At what point do people blame the protesters?” he said, calling them “professional agitators.”
Mr. Trump also complained about a roadblock by protesters who sought to prevent his supporters from reaching a rally outside Phoenix on Sunday.
“I think it’s very unfair that these, really, in many cases professional, in many cases sick, protesters can put cars in a road blocking thousands of great Americans from coming to a speech, and nobody says anything about that,” Mr. Trump said, adding: “It’s a very unfair double standard.”
Mr. Trump was also questioned about a video showing his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, accosting a demonstrator in Tucson. Mr. Lewandowski was seen grabbing the protester by his collar and, along with someone who appeared to be a plainclothed security guard, yanking him backwards. According to CBS News, the protester was part of a group of people who had stood behind Mr. Trump and jeered him as he spoke.
“I give him credit for having spirit,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Lewandowski, adding that the protesters had been holding “horrible, profanity-laden signs” in the background as television cameras recorded his speech. He said Mr. Lewandowski was trying to remove the signs from view.
