The president of CBS News is standing by one of the network’s journalists who was arrested outside a Donald Trump rally that was canceled amid violence between Trump supporters and protesters.
David Rhodes tweeted that journalist Sopan Deb, who was covering the rally at the University of Illinois’ Chicago campus on Friday, was handcuffed and charged with resisting arrest.
“On tape you see he did not resist, identified himself as working press,” Rhodes said in his tweet.
CBS News also aired footage of the rally and of Deb’s arrest, which he managed to capture on tape. In the accompanying article, Deb said police abruptly threw him to the ground and handcuffed him.
Deb was charged with resisting arrest, “although there is no sign of that on the video,” according to CBS.
Deb was arrested and placed in the back of a police vehicle. His camera was left on the ground but returned to him once he was released on Friday night.
After being let go, Deb went to the hospital to check for possible injuries sustained during the arrest.
Deb tweeted about the night saying, “I’ve never seen anything like what I’m witnessing in my life.”
Deb, a well-liked producer among his peers, has been traveling with the Trump campaign since last summer. He’s what is known as a campaign “embed.”
Deb is Indian. He has never been to the Middle East (or India for that matter). And yet, he has repeatedly been singled out at events.
In November, he tweeted, “A Trump supporter just asked me at Reno event if I was taking pictures for ISIS. When I looked shocked, he said, ‘yeah, I’m talking to you.'”
Deb is the latest reporter to be involved in incidents at Trump events.
Time magazine photographer Chris Morris claims a Secret Service agent choked him and slammed him the ground, and Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields alleges that Trump’s campaign manager grabbed and bruised her.
Breitbart initially seemed to support her account. However, on Friday, the site published an article saying video evidence showed that Fields had misidentified the person who grabbed her.
Across the country, clashes between Trump supporters and protesters have led to multiple arrests and injuries.
A man attending a Trump rally this week was charged with assault after he allegedly sucker-punched a black protester being led out of a Trump event.
And, last fall, Trump said a Black Lives Matter protester maybe “should have been roughed up.” Despite an announcement at the start of his rallies urging protesters not to be violent toward supporters, Trump in February urged his supporters to “knock the crap out of” anybody “getting ready to throw a tomato” and vowed to pay for their legal fees should they face charges.
— CNN’s Jeremy Diamond and Theodore Schleifer contributed to this report.
