A supporter of Donald Trump reportedly attacked a BBC cameraman at one of the president’s rallies on Monday evening.
According to BBC journalists, the man climbed onto the reporters’ platform at the event in El Paso, Texas, and assaulted cameraman Ron Skeans with a hard shove.
As BBC Washington correspondent Gary O’Donaghue tweeted, the attack took place after Trump “repeatedly goaded the crowd over supposed media bias.”
This is the shameful moment when my cameraman Ron Skeans was attacked by @realdDonaldTrump supporter in El Paso – after the President repeatedly goaded the crowd over supposed media bias. Happily Ron is fine #TrumpElPaso pic.twitter.com/F3pv04fRBg
— Gary O'Donoghue (@BBCBlindGazza) February 12, 2019
BBC Washington news editor Eleanor Montague also reported that “the crowd had been whipped up into a frenzy against the media by Trump and other speakers all night.”
Just attended my first @realDonaldTrump rally where my colleague BBC cameraman Rob Skeans was attacked by a Trump supporter. The crowd had been whipped up into a frenzy against the media by Trump and other speakers all night #TrumpElPaso pic.twitter.com/Oiw8osPms3
— Eleanor Montague (@EleanorMontague) February 12, 2019
In the tweeted footage, a man wearing a red MAGA cap is pulled away from the cameraman by a man in a black shirt. The alleged assailant is shown shouting: “F— the media.”
Trump’s rallies have for a long time featured the president turning his supporters against the media, whom he accuses of being “fake news.” People regularly scream at the reporters who cover the events.
It is unusual for the violence to turn physical at these rallies, though the president has previously condoned an assault on a journalist—last year Trump referred to the 2017 incident in which soon-to-be-congressman Greg Gianforte body-slammed the Guardian‘s Ben Jacobs, saying Gianforte is “my guy” and “a great guy and a tough cookie.”
According to a BBC statement, this time Trump “could see the incident and checked with us that all was OK.”
“Ron Skeans was violently pushed and shoved by a member of the crowd while covering a President Trump rally in Texas last night. The man was removed by security and Ron is fine,” the statement read. “It is clearly unacceptable for any of our staff to be attacked for doing their job.”