Donald Trump claimed Sunday that “nobody’s ever been hurt” at his rallies just minutes before Fox’s Chris Wallace showed him footage of a North Carolina protester who was struck while being escorted out of the building by police on Wednesday.
“Do you take any responsibility for the violence at your rallies?” Wallace asked the Republican front-runner on “Fox News Sunday.”
“I disagree totally, Chris, with what you said,” Trump began by saying. “I have by far the biggest crowds, 25,000, 30,000 people. Last week we had in Alabama 35,000 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. As big as the rallies are, nobody’s ever been hurt.
“I will tell you, some of the protesters are very rough and they’re bad dudes, and they swing and punch, and nobody talks about that in the media,” he added.
“Who do you know that’s been hurt over the last number of months? Nobody,” Trump claimed later in the interview. “Nobody’s been hurt.”
Wallace then showed footage of protester Rakeem Jones being struck by Trump supporter John McGraw at a rally Wednesday in North Carolina. (RELATED: Trump Protester Sucker-Punched [VIDEO])
“Mr. Trump, does that have any place in America?” Wallace asked the real estate mogul.
Trump condemned the incident, saying it’s a “shame that it happened” but still reiterated his belief that no one’s been injured at his rallies. (RELATED: Secret Service Swarms As Protester Attempts To Take Stage At Trump Rally [VIDEO])
“I feel badly for everybody concerned,” he said. “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.”
But Wallace continued to press Trump: “The record is clear — and we’re going to put up some tapes — you have condoned violence at rally after rally.”
“If you would play 99 percent of the clips, I’m always saying don’t hurt them, take it easy. Don’t hurt them,” Trump responded. “And I’m saying it to the police, who are really mistreated in this country, by the way. They’re not appreciated for the great job they do. But usually it’s the police, it’s not my people, it’s the police in the various municipalities that I go to.” (RELATED: Trump Cancels Chicago Event Amid Chaos, Safety Concerns)
“With rallies of 25,000 and 35,000 people, you don’t know of one injury in any of our rallies,” he said.
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