RENO — Donald Trump was rushed off stage Saturday
night during a campaign rally here as security officials swarmed, but the
candidate emerged back on stage after a few minutes and finished his speech.
The U.S. Secret Service later said in a statement
that it took action after “an unidentified individual shouted ‘gun’” in front
of the stage. Agents apprehended the person, but found no gun, the statement
said, adding that an investigation into the incident continues.
The man, who identified himself as Austyn Crites,
33, was released shortly after the incident, according to reports. He said he
was holding a “Republicans against Trump” sign.
“When I pulled out the sign, people around me were
trying to grab the sign,” Crites told reporters, according to reports on the
local Fox and NBC affiliate websites. “And so all that was occurring was
booing, of course. That’s what you would expect.”
People from the surrounding crowd tackled him,
Crites said. They started “kicking me and grabbing me in the crotch and just,
just beating the crap out of me,” Crites said.
Democrats are trying to win their third presidential
election in a row and retain the White House after a two-term Democratic
president for the first time since the mid-19th century. View Graphic
Trump concluded his rally without further incident.
The GOP presidential nominee later released a
statement thanking the Secret Service and local law enforcement for their “fast
and professional response,” adding that “nothing will stop us — we will make
America great again!”
Meanwhile, a press bus carrying reporters covering
Democratic vice-presidential nominee Sen Tim Kaine’s stops in Florida was hit
at high speed, according to reporters traveling with the senator. There were no
immediate reports of injuries. Kaine was several cars ahead of the press bus,
according to reporters in his motorcade.
Earlier in the day, Hillary Clinton’s campaign
announced she will campaign in Michigan on Monday, as polls show her
once-comfortable lead in the state eroding and as Trump eyes it as a potential
way to come from behind in the hunt for electoral votes.
That announcement from the Clinton campaign came as
Trump also rejiggered his itinerary, making plans for last-minute stops in
Virginia, where Clinton has led but Republicans are catching up.
The GOP nominee spent Saturday hopscotching the
country, rallying with supporters in North Carolina, as well as Florida,
Colorado and Nevada — and he announced plans to visit Minnesota, a
traditionally Democratic state where polls showing him trailing by about five
points. In his speech in Nevada late Saturday, Trump attacked elections
officials for allowing a predominantly Hispanic early voting site in the Las
Vegas area to stay open for “hours and hours.”
President Obama will also campaign in Michigan on
Monday, suggesting that Democrats see danger signs there. Clinton will be in
Grand Rapids, Obama in Ann Arbor. Former president Bill Clinton will make a
stop in Lansing on Sunday.
What one state shows us about political polarization
View Graphic
[Clinton maintains narrow four-point edge, pushing
past concerns about honesty]
“There are just three days left in this most
consequential election,” Clinton told a cheering crowd of about 10,000 an
open-air rally and concert in Philadelphia on Saturday night.
Clinton noted the millions of people of have voted
early and urged Pennsylvania voters to help “send a message” about American
values and ideals.
“I believe they are standing up for a hopeful,
inclusive vision of America and I’m asking you to stand up for that same
vision,” Clinton said.
Over the last two weeks much of Clinton’s focus has
been on Florida and North Carolina, as well as Nevada, where early voting is
now winding down.
But her campaign manager Robby Mook, conceded to
reporters on Saturday that “we have seen tightening in the Midwest generally
this cycle, and we are taking that seriously.”
Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri
told reporters Saturday that in addition to a previously announced stop in
Manchester, N.H., on Sunday night, Clinton will add a rally in Cleveland
earlier Sunday. On Monday in addition to Michigan, Clinton will add a midnight
rally in Raleigh, N.C. Another large evening rally had also been announced for
Philadelphia that night.
Palmieri said that Khizr Khan will speak at the New
Hampshire rally. Khan is the father of fallen soldier Humayun Khan, whose
challenge to Trump over the Republican’s proposed ban on Muslim immigration was
among the most memorable moments of the Democratic convention.
Campaigning in Reno, Trump denounced a decision by
elections officials to keep open an early voting site “for hours and hours.”
Early voting totals in Clark County, Nev., which
encompasses Las Vegas, topped 57,000, according to local officials. A
supermarket doubling as an early-voting site in the county was allowed to stay
open for two additional hours on Friday night as thousands of people remained
in line to vote. It is customary for state elections officials across the
country to authorize keeping a polling site open later if there are long lines
at closing time.
Regardless, Trump claimed that officials allowed
Clinton supporters to “bus and bring Democratic voters in. Folks, it’s a rigged
system. It’s a rigged system and we’re going to beat it. We’re going to beat
it. I’ve been saying it’s a rigged system.”
[An early sign Trump is being out-organized: A big
Democratic advantage in Nevada voting]
Trump continued his emphasis on Clinton’s emails
controversy throughout the day Saturday, citing the FBI’s announcement last
week that it would revive an inquiry into her use of a private email server at
the State Department. In Reno, he said that if Clinton were elected, her
presidency would lead to “an unprecedented constitutional crisis.”
“We could very well have a sitting president under
felony indictment and ultimately a criminal trial. It would grind government to
a halt, of course that’s what we have right now under Obama anyway,” he told
the crowd in Reno. “We need a government that can work, and work well from day
one for the American people. That would be impossible with Hillary Clinton, the
prime suspect in a far-reaching criminal investigation.”
In the aftermath of the event’s disruption, when
security officers removed Trump from the stage and later said they found no
weapon, Trump campaign aides and the candidate’s son, Donald Trump Jr.,
retweeted a supporter who credited Trump for returning to the stage after an
“assassination attempt” and noted that Clinton had cut an event short earlier
Saturday in Florida because of rain.
Trump, Pence and key campaign surrogates also will
swing through Virginia this weekend and into Monday. Trump will hold a 10 p.m.
rally Sunday at a fairgrounds in the Northern Virginia swing territory of
Loudoun County, his campaign announced on Saturday. Pence was scheduled to
appear at a suburban Richmond Saturday afternoon and at a rally at George Mason
University at 8 p.m. Saturday. Two of Trump’s children — Donald Trump Jr. and
Ivanka Trump — are planning stops in Northern Virginia on Sunday and Monday,
respectively.
In the closing days of the campaign, polling
averages compiled by The Washington Post continue to show a close contest in
several battleground states. In Michigan, Clinton now holds just a two-point
edge over Trump, 43 to 41 percent. She also holds a slim lead in New Hampshire
(43-41), which accounts for the renewed attention there in the closing days.
In Colorado, Clinton is up 43 percent to 41 percent.
In Arizona, Trump leads by three points (46-43). Clinton is ahead by six points
in New Mexico (40-34) and five points in North Carolina (48-43), Pennsylvania
(47-42) and Wisconsin (45-40). She’s up by four points in Virginia (45-41).
Trump holds a five-point lead in Ohio (46-41), where
Clinton held a star-studded campaign rally on Friday night with rapper Jay-Z
and Beyoncé, his wife.
The race remains tick-tock tight in Nevada, where
the candidates are tied at 44 percent each. In Florida, Clinton has a
one-point, 47 to 46 percent advantage. Trump leads in Georgia (47-45); Iowa
(46-41); and Utah (35-28) where third-party candidate Evan McMullin has been
polling well.
Poll averages calculated by The Washington Post for
Clinton and Trump reflect recent polls that also include McMullin, Libertarian
Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein where they are on the ballot
and where results are available.
As the race enters its final stretch, the Clinton
campaign continues to push back aggressively against the FBI’s decision to
revive the inquiry into Clinton’s email.
Campaigning in Florida on Saturday, Kaine (D-Va.),
the Democratic vice-presidential candidate, sharply criticized the FBI and its
director, James Comey, for the development.
In an interview with the Fusion television network,
Kaine faulted Comey for breaking agency protocol by discussing a politically
sensitive case so close to an election.
Comey’s decision to alert Congress about his review
of the Clinton case “suggests that it’s probably more likely explained that
[Comey] knew that the FBI is not only a leaky sieve but there were people
within the FBI actively working — actively working — to try to help the Trump
campaign,” Kaine said. “This just absolutely staggering, and it is a massive
blow to the integrity of [the FBI].”
John Wagner, Katie Zezima, Robert Barnes, Sarah
Parnass and Sean Sullivan in Washington and Laura Vozzella in Richmond
contributed to this report. Gearan reported from Philadelphia and O’Keefe from
Washington.
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