Fox's Chris Wallace To Trump: “You Have Condoned Violence In Rally After Rally”

From the March 13 edition of Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday:

Video file

CHRIS WALLACE (HOST): Even before you had to cancel your rally in Chicago on Friday, there had been growing violence at some of your rallies around the country. And some of the rivals, some of your rivals in the Republican race say you have contributed to this with your rhetoric. Question, sir, do you take any responsibility for the violence at your rallies?

DONALD TRUMP: First of all, I disagree totally, Chris, with what you said. I have by far the biggest crowds, twenty-five, thirty thousand people. Last week we had in Alabama thirty-five thousand people. And out of that, we'll have some disrupters, sometimes put there by other people. But we'll have some protesters, and nobody's been hurt at all. And as big as these rallies are, nobody's ever been hurt. We talk and we try and be good and I will tell you, some of the protesters are very rough and they're bad dudes, and they swing and they punch, and nobody ever talks about that in the media. And if other people including the police because it's usually the police that handle it, if they get a little bit rough because they have no choice, the next day in the newspapers [unintelligible] but we have had nobody hurt. And when you think about it, when I have twenty-five thousand and twenty thousand people very routinely, by far the biggest, and we have some protesters stand up, who do you know that's been hurt over the last number of months? Nobody. Nobody's been hurt --

WALLACE: Sir, let's take one example. First of all, we've been running video that shows a number of punches being thrown. I don't know that people have ended up being hospitalized. But let's take one example on. Wednesday in North Carolina, a protester named Rakeem Jones was being peacefully escorted from the event, not saying he didn't do something provocative. Yes, you can see he flips off a crowd, but then a man in the crowd elbows him in the face, knocks him to the ground. And here's what the man says afterwards:

JOHN MCGRAW (VIDEO): Yes, he deserved it, the next time we see him, we might have to kill him. 

WALLACE: Mr. Trump, does that have any place in America?

TRUMP: No, it doesn't, and it's a shame that it happened. And I feel badly for everybody concerned and we don't condone violence. But the kid did, from what I hear, stick up a certain finger right in everybody's face. And this man has had enough, because I'll tell you what, people in this country are very angry. They're angry at incompetent politicians, they're angry at losing their jobs, not having a pay increase for twelve years and more effectively, everything's, this country is not, we can't beat ISIS. Our military is going to hell. You look at what's going on with the vets, they're treated horribly, they're treated worse than illegal immigrants. We have a big portion of this country that's fed up. You look at the rust belt and other areas of our country where our jobs are being taken. They're all being moved down to Mexico and other locations. They're being moved out of the United States. We have a president that doesn't have a clue. He doesn't know what's going on. And the people of this country are angry. They're not angry people, but they're angry now.

WALLACE: But you say and you just said again, you don't condone the violence. But, sir, the record is clear. And we're going to put up some tapes. You have condoned violence in rally after rally. Again, take a look.

[...]

WALLACE: That sure sounds like condoning violence.

Previously:

Media Highlight Trump's Role In Inspiring Violence At His Events

Rachel Maddow: “It Is Impossible” To Call Violence At Trump's Events “An Accident”

ABC's Matthew Dowd: Trump's Campaign Creates “An Environment” For Violence At Rallies