SAN JOSE, Calif. — It’s usually Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders supporters who have a reputation of using violence at campaign events during this election cycle, but it was a Hillary Clinton backer here on Thursday who accosted a protester and grabbed this reporter’s cell phone as he was being recorded.
Clinton was giving her usual stump speech when a lone man in his early 20s — an apparent Bernie backer — began attempting to disrupt the event. Clinton loyalists in the man’s vicinity circled around the man in an effort to quiet him. When that didn’t work they adopted a strategy of chanting “Hillary!” whenever he would start to yell in the candidate’s direction.
WATCH:
The Daily Caller was near the kerfuffle and fired up a cell phone video camera to document the incident. One Clinton supporter — a short, stalky bald man named Alan — was not pleased.
After one outburst from the protester, Alan was seen yanking the protester by the shoulders and then pushing him away from the stage.
While filming the minor assault, this reporter asked Alan to explain what he was doing. He grabbed the cell phone and attempted to pull it from this reporter’s firm grip.
After being told that he was being filmed by a member of the press the Clinton backer released the phone.
At that point a Secret Service agent entered the fracas.
He could be heard calmly informing the protester that the campaign event was private and he could be removed for disrupting it.
The protester calmed down slightly but did continue to intermittently interrupt Clinton’s speech. Though Clinton seemed to not have been bothered by the disruption, two other agents came over and escorted the protester from the event.
The agent declined to explain what his official title and role or why the man was removed. He said he was not able to divulge that information but, ironically, did ask which outlet this reporter works for.
Alan, the overzealous Clinton supporter, refused a request to talk about what happened.
