Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania on Friday accused President Barack Obama of screaming at a protester at an earlier rally — but that's not what happened.
"He spent so much time screaming at this protester and frankly, it was a disgrace," Trump claimed.
A pro-Trump protester did interrupt Obama’s speech Friday afternoon, but Obama attempted to quiet those in the crowd who were booing the man. "Hold up," Obama said repeatedly, seeking to calm the crowd. "I told you to be focused, you’re not focused right now."
Obama defended the protester, saying: "You’ve got an older gentleman who is supporting his candidate. He’s not doing nothing. You don’t have to worry about him. We live in a country that respects free speech."
The president surmised that the man, who wore a military jacket, may have served in the military. "We've got to respect that."
But Trump claimed that "There was a protester and a protester that likes us. And what happened is they wouldn’t put the cameras on him. They kept the cameras on Obama ... He was talking to a protester, screaming at him, really screaming at him. By the way, if I spoke the way Obama spoke to that protester, they would say he became unhinged."
Trump has in the past been criticized after he said he would like to punch a protester, and that he yearned for the old days when authorities could be rougher with protesters. During the primaries, Trump promised to pay the legal fees of supporters who did physically act against interrupters.
