Had Trump talked about punching protestors in the nose at the Fayetteville rally shortly before McGovern did just that and had at least two more supporters turned assaultive, Sheriff Butler could very well have put handcuffs on the leading candidate for the Republican nomination.
Butler rightly said of the assault: “No one should be subjected to such a cowardly, unprovoked act as that committed by McGraw. Regardless of political affiliation, speech, race, national origin, color, gender, bad reputation, prior acts, or political demonstration, no other citizen has the right to assault another person or to act in such a way as this defendant did.”
The sheriff had not hesitated to arrest McGraw for assault. The sheriff had arrested McGraw again after a videotape showed him saying he had enjoyed punching “that loud mouth,” saying the man had not been “acting like an American” and “next time we see him, we may have to kill him.”
The second charge against McGraw was Communicating Threats, as defined by Section 14-277.1 (a) of the state penal code, in which the accused “willfully threatens to physically injure the person.”
Trump would seem to be skating at the edge of both inciting a riot and communicating threats.
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