A group of black students who were silently protesting during a Donald Trump rally at Valdosta State University Monday were escorted out by law enforcement.
“We didn’t plan to do anything,” Tahjila Davis, a 19-year-old mass media major, told The Des Moines Register. “They said, ‘This is Trump’s property; it’s a private event.’ But I paid my tuition to be here.”
News reports placed the number of students escorted out at about 30. Kicking out anticipated protestors isn’t uncommon practice for Trump events, but this was one of the largest groups so far in his campaign.
Though at least one outlet reported they were kicked out based on a request by the Trump campaign, the campaign denies that was the case.
“There is absolutely zero truth to that,” says campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks.
Some reports also claimed at least one Secret Service agent assisted with the students’ removal, but a Secret Service agent on the ground told CNN that was incorrect.
“They were asked to leave by the host committee and local law enforcement. We do not escort protestors (or) disruptors out of events,” the agent, speaking on background, said. “(It’s) not a Secret Service function and (campaign) staff knows that.”
But Kevin Dye, a spokesman for Secret Service, added that while the agents do not actively participate in removing protesters, it’s not uncommon for Secret Service agents to monitor such situations.
At a Trump event earlier on Monday, a photographer covering a Donald Trump rally in Virginia said a Secret Service agent choked him and slammed him to the ground as he tried to leave a media pen at the event where a protest erupted.
A video of the incident shot by an attendee at the rally and later posted on social media shows the agent putting two hands on the photographer’s neck and slamming him to the ground.
Time magazine photographer Chris Morris told CNN that as he tried to exit the media pen, a Secret Service agent began choking him.
A Secret Service spokesman said the agency is “aware of an incident involving an employee” and will provide further details of the incident after they gather the facts.
“Our local field office is working with their law enforcement partners to determine the exact circumstances that led up to this incident. The Secret Service will provide further details as warranted once additional facts surrounding the situation are known,” said spokesman Robert Hoback.
The Valdosta student protest came after Trump also spent part of the day trying to clean up a racially charged controversy after he refused to disavow former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke over the weekend.
When asked about his Sunday comments on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Trump blamed a “bad earpiece.”
“I was sitting in a house in Florida, with a bad earpiece,” the brash billionaire told NBC’s “Today” show. “I could hardly hear what he’s saying. I hear various groups. I don’t mind disavowing anyone. I disavowed Duke the day before at a major conference.”
Duke had detailed his support for Trump in a Facebook post on Thursday.
