While Trump was speaking in Dayton, a man tried to jump a barrier behind the stage in an apparent effort to confront the GOP front-runner, but was unsuccessful. He was quickly blocked by Secret Service officers, and members of Trump’s security detail rushed to cover him. After a few moments, Trump, who was visibly startled, gave a thumbs-up and thanked the cheering crowd for warning him.
“I was ready for him,” Trump said, “but it’s much easier if the cops do it.”
Montgomery County Sheriff Phil Plummer identified the protester as Thomas DiMassimo, 32. He was charged with disorderly conduct and inducing panic, according to authorities, and was being held at Montgomery County Jail in Dayton early Saturday afternoon.
Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks issued a brief statement on the incident.
“A man attempted to breach the secure buffer and was removed rapidly and professionally,” she said. “All further inquiries should be directed to the (Secret Service).”
Donald Trump on Saturday denounced the protests that led him to cancel a scheduled rally the previous night in Chicago, calling them “a planned attack” that was “professionally done” and blaming Bernie Sanders supporters for inciting violence.
Sanders, however, pushed back against Trump, calling on him to denounce violence at his rallies and labeling him a “pathological liar.”
The accusations come on a day when Trump refused to apologize for his rhetoric at his rallies, one of which was interrupted when a man tried to rush the stage. Secret Service officers protected the GOP front-runner, who was unharmed.
Trump focused on Sanders in his comments about the protesters Friday night.
“Some represented Bernie, our communist friend,” Trump said in Dayton, Ohio, his first campaign appearance since the Chicago event was postponed.
Later in the day, Trump said protesters at his Cleveland event are “Bernie’s crowd.”
“You know Bernie was saying Mr. Trump should speak to his crowd,” Trump said. “You know where they come from? Bernie’s crowd. They’re Bernie’s crowd.”
And when a protester momentarily disrupted Trump’s rally, the GOP front-runner again said the demonstrator was a “Bernie person.”
“Get your people in line, Bernie,” Trump said.
Several protesters on Friday could be heard chanting Sanders’ name, and the progressive group MoveOn.org, which has endorsed Sanders, confirmed in a statement Saturday that it helped students print signs for the protests at the Chicago rally and recruit members to attend the “student-led protest.”
Sanders said his supporters were not to blame for the unrest.
“I don’t think our supporters are inciting. What our supporters are doing is responding to a candidate who has, in fact, in many ways, encouraged violence,” Sanders said Saturday at a press conference in Chicago. “When he talks about … ‘I wish we were in the old days when you could punch somebody in the head.’ What do you think that says to his supporters?”
Sanders also referred to an incident earlier this week in which a black protester was sucker-punched by a Trump supporter as he was being led out of a rally.
“So the issue now is Donald Trump has got to be loud and clear and tell his supporters that violence at rallies is not what America is about and to end it,” Sanders said.
In a statement issued later Saturday, Sanders added: “As is the case virtually every day, Donald Trump is showing the American people that he is a pathological liar.”
Clashes broke out Friday night between protesters and Trump supporters after the campaign announced the rally would be canceled more than 30 minutes after it was scheduled to start. Hundreds of protesters had packed into the University of Illinois at Chicago venue for the rally, prompting the campaign to call off the event.