RALEIGH, N.C. — Cumberland County sheriff’s investigators considered charging Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump with inciting a riot at his Fayetteville rally, but decided late Monday that Trump’s comments didn’t constitute a crime.
RALEIGH, N.C. — Cumberland County sheriff’s investigators considered charging Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump with inciting a riot at his Fayetteville rally, but decided late Monday that Trump’s comments didn’t constitute a crime.
Ronnie Mitchell, an attorney for the department, said in a news release Monday afternoon that investigators were probing an incident last week in which a protester was punched in the face with an elbow while being escorted out of the Trump event.
John Franklin McGraw, 78, of Linden, has been charged with assault, disorderly conduct and communicating threats. Investigators say video shows McGraw punching the protester.
“We are continuing to look at the totality of these circumstances, including any additional charges against Mr. McGraw, including the potential of whether there was conduct on the part of Mr. Trump or the Trump campaign which rose to the level of inciting a riot, and including the actions or inactions of our deputies,” Mitchell said in the release.
But Monday evening, a sheriff’s department spokesman said that after reviewing the incident, “the evidence does not meet the requisites of the law” regarding riots.