NORTH CAROLINA — A North Carolina sheriff’s office is weighing charges of inciting a riot against Donald Trump or his campaign stemming from a Trump supporter’s alleged assault against a protester during a rally last week.
The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Monday its investigation “is not complete” and that it is probing “the potential of whether there was conduct on the part of Mr. Trump or the Trump campaign which rose to the level of inciting a riot.”
“Our investigation is not complete as to the incidents of Wednesday, March 9, 2016,” the Sheriff’s office said in a statement, referring to the date of Trump’s rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
Police arrested 78-year-old John McGraw and charged him with assault on protester Rakeem Jones after multiple videos surfaced online showing McGraw attempting to punch Jones, hitting him in the face with his elbow.
The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office is also weighing additional charges against McGraw, after they already added an additional charge of communicating threats. That came after an “Inside Edition” report showed McGraw threatening to kill Jones the “next time.”
Cumberland County Sheriff Earl R. Butler, first elected in 1994, is a registered Democrat, according to his official biography.
Trump campaign spokeswoman Katrina Pierson told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “The Lead” Monday that “It’s important that law enforcement does a full investigation in situations like this.”
“However, I’m not concerned with the idea or the concept that the campaign or Mr. Trump had anything to do with any type of violence for that matter. We are in a situation where we have thousands of thousands of people who show up to Mr. Trump’s rallies and Mr. Trump cannot control the actions of an individual, and I think everyone would agree with that,” she said.
Trump said Sunday that he is weighing helping to pay for McGraw’s legal fees.
But on Monday, Trump repeated to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that he does not condone violence at his events.
“No, I don’t like that. And we don’t condone that, Wolf. And I’ve said that numerous times,” Trump said, when asked about the North Carolina supporter who punched the protester.
“Now, with all of that being said, and I still don’t condone it, that young man walked up and he made a gesture in his air — in the air with one of his fingers, which was not good and was not nice and was very, very horrible to see also. But despite that, I don’t condone it and we don’t want that to happen,” he said.
A video shared millions of times on Facebook compiled clips of what the filmmakers said is Donald Trump calling for violence — seemingly in contradiction to what he has told reporters.
