CLEVELAND, March 13 – Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Saturday encountered more violence on the campaign trail when somebody got too close to the front-runner at an Ohio rally and Secret Service agents rushed the stage, one day after violence forced Trump to cancel a rally in Chicago.
A rally in Missouri later on Saturday evening was also interrupted the numerous times by protesters. Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said a man tried to breach the security buffer at the Dayton, Ohio event and that he was been removed “rapidly and professionally.”
Those attending the large, boisterous rally, at an airport outside Dayton cheered “Trump, Trump, Trump” during the brief episode in which four agents surrounded the candidate. Trump returned to the campaign trail Saturday by ignoring calls for him to take responsibility for the violence that cancelled the Chicago rally and instead blamed left wing rivals and “wise guys” for the “planned” and “professionally-staged” protests.
“My people are nice. My people are great,” Trump told the Ohio crowd. “Don’t let them rip you away from your position. These are bad people. These are people who don’t want to make America great again.” The person who tried to rush the stage has been identified as Thomas Dimassimo of Fairborn, Ohio.
Dimassimo has been charged with inducing panic and disorderly conduct, said Montgomery County Sheriff Phil Plummer. Later Saturday in Kansas City, Mo., Trump’s third rally of the day was interrupted within the first few minutes by at least seven individuals or groups of protesters.
“I think they’re Bernie [Sanders] supporters,” Trump said of the protesters, pointing to at least one protester the Republican frontrunner said was holding a sign in support of the Democratic presidential candidate. “Just bad people–so bad for our country,” Trump said, echoing a sentiment he made earlier in Dayton.
