Jennifer Jacobs

USA TODAY

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Donald Trump lashed out again at the news media — specifically the Des Moines Register, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK — for reporting on some black college students who said his campaign ejected them from his presidential rally in Georgia on the eve of the big Super Tuesday vote.

“They said, ‘Donald Trump ordered them out.’ I was in my plane. I was traveling. I didn’t even know these people,” Trump said during a rally in Ohio on Tuesday. The press "are such liars. They are disgusting people, I’m telling you. Most of them.”

On Monday night, USA TODAY published a news article about a group of about 30 Valdosta State University students who said security officials at Trump’s rally escorted them from the stadium venue before the candidate’s remarks. They say they were standing quietly at the top of the bleachers and had no intention of disrupting the rally, which attracted a heavily white audience of about 7,000.

The police chief in Valdosta confirmed Tuesday that the students were correct when they said Trump aides ordered them out of the campus stadium. But Chief Brian Childress said Trump and his detail were justified in removing the students for disorderly behavior.

The night before, Trump’s spokeswoman Hope Hicks had called USA TODAY’s article about the incident a “false report,” saying neither Trump nor the campaign had anything to do with asking the students to leave.

Trump kept up that narrative during his Super Tuesday stop in Columbus, targeting this reporter, who writes for The Des Moines Register and is a correspondent for USA TODAY.

“They are the most dishonest people in the world. They know what's going on. A story was written last night from a failed paper in Iowa. Can you believe it? A failed paper in Iowa. And it was a story about us having — me having people evicted from one of my rallies. And I was in the airplane! I have nothing to do with it.

“I show up, I didn't even know anything happened. And they wrote this vicious story, and it gets picked up by everybody. And this is a paper that's an enemy of ours, with a writer who is horrible, and they pick it up all over the place!”

The Trump campaign had earlier in the day refused to credential USA TODAY for the candidate's appearance in Palm Beach on Tuesday night.

Complaining about his press coverage is a popular pastime for Trump, and his comments are often well-received by his conservative, anti-establishment supporters. Trump has roundly criticized TheDes Moines Register — for what he considered biased polling when the results showed he wasn’t the front-runner, for “terrible” reporting and other complaints — since the opinion staff published an editorial in July calling for him to exit the race.

Trump has taken punitive action against other news outlets in the past – including the Huffington Post, BuzzFeed, Univision and the New York Times – by denying acces to his events. He refused to participate in a Fox News debate moderated by Megyn Kelly, whom he has accused of being biased. And he has called for stricter libel laws so that he can sue news outlets such as the Washington Post when they write what he calls “hit pieces.”

On Tuesday, his Ohio spectators cheered after his comments about the dishonest media.

Contributing: Jessie Balmert, Cincinnati Enquirer

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