Univision reporter Jorge Ramos was forceably removed by security at Donald Trump’s press conference before his Iowa rally on Tuesday.
“Go back to Univision,” Trump told Ramos, who was continually asking Trump questions despite not being called on. Security then escorted him
out of the room. Trump later said that he had nothing to do with the removal — pinning the blame on the security personnel.
“He was out of order. I would take his question in two seconds,” Trump said, adding that he wouldn’t mind if Ramos returned to ask a question
politely.
Ramos was able to return and question Trump about his immigration policies.
Trump returned to Iowa on Tuesday evening for a rally that his campaign said will draw about 3,000 people.
Trump will be introduced by Sam Clovis, the popular radio host here who on Monday left the campaign of former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, will serve as the new national co-chair and senior policy adviser to Trump’s campaign, Clovis told reporters Tuesday.
“I’m excited about the opportunity and chance to change the status quo, and I think he can do it,” Clovis said, adding that it was the “honorable thing” to leave Perry’s campaign given his fundraising difficulties.
Trump — the Republican front-runner both in the Hawkeye State and nationally — has drawn record crowds at some of his campaign rallies, bringing an estimated 30,000 Alabamans to a high school football stadium last week in Mobile. Trump supporters waited patiently for the doors to open to the Grand River Center in Dubuque, while Trump tweeted that he is en route to a “full house.”
Upon arrival, Trump engaged in a contentious, lengthy back-and-forth with Univision reporter Jorge Ramos, who security at one point escorted him from his press conference.
Trump, the real estate magnate who has dislodged Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker from his months-long standing in Iowa at top of the polls, has looked to assemble a professional political operation that can turn out voters in next winter’s caucuses. His campaign is using contests made famous on his NBC television show, “The Apprentice,” to recruit caucus leaders.
“It’s creating a buzz. It’s creating an excitement,” Tana Goertz, a former contestant on Trump’s show, who is helping organize Trump’s Iowa’s campaign, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, on Tuesday.
Trump spent much of the day embroiled in a public spat with the chief of Fox News, Roger Ailes, who called Trump’s renewed attacks on Fox anchorwoman Megyn Kelly “disturbing.”