The Democratic National Committee joined the choir of Donald Trump’s critics on Friday who are urging the Republican presidential hopeful to condemn recent episodes of violence at his campaign rallies.
“We call on Mr. Trump to denounce all violence, whether perpetrated by his supporters or his staff,” DNC press secretary Mark Paustenbach said in a statement. “This sort of aggression and intimidation tactics are simply undemocratic and have no place in our political system.”
The DNC released its statement just as Trump was dismissing a heckler at a campaign rally in St. Louis, Mo., and hours after he said his supporters behaved appropriately on Wednesday when they “swung back” at a protester in Fayettesville, N.C.
“That particular one who was swinging — very loud and then started swinging at the audience. You know what? The audience swung back,” Trump said during a press conference Friday. “And I thought it was very, very appropriate.”
Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton also criticized Trump’s blase attitude towards violence at his rallies, calling it a “real disgrace” on Twitter Thursday evening.
Trump’s campaign has continued to deny allegations by Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields that campaign manager Corey Lewandowski assaulted her at a press conference Tuesday. Fields filed a criminal complaint against Lewandowski on Friday morning.
