Donald Trump reiterated that he doesn't condone violence. | Getty Trump will 'look in to' paying legal bills for man who punched protester

Donald Trump, the Republican presidential front-runner, said Sunday he would consider paying the legal bills of an elderly man who was arrested after sucker-punching a protester at a Trump rally in North Carolina and defended his claims a man who rushed the stage at a Trump rally was linked to the Islamic State.

“We’ll see,” Trump said on NBC’s “Meet the Press. “I’m going to take a look at it.”


Cumberland County Sheriff’s deputies arrested 78-year-old John McGraw on Friday after video of him sucker-punching a young black man who had been protesting at the rally rippled across the Internet. McGraw told “Inside Edition” he didn’t regret throwing the punch because the man “might be with a terrorist organization.”

Trump said he doesn’t condone violence but asserted that the punch might have been justified because the victim flipped off the crowd before the punch was thrown.

“From what I understand, he was sticking a certain finger up in the air,” Trump said. “And that is a terrible thing to do in front of somebody that frankly wants to see America made great again.”

NBC’s Chuck Todd asked Trump about the legal bills after quoting Trump telling a crowd he would pay for the legal bills of anyone who attacked a protester. Trump said his stance was justified at the time because protesters were threatening to throw tomatoes at him.

“Now, if you get hit in the face with a tomato, let me tell you, with somebody with a strong arm, at least, let me tell you, it can be very damaging. Not good,” he said, adding later: “I have no objection to what I said. I would say it again. People are there doing harm, you have to go and you have to use equal force.”

The billionaire businessman and entertainer also defended his spurious claims the man who rushed the stage at a Trump rally in Kansas City was tied to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. Thomas Dimassimo of Fairborn, Ohio, was quickly arrested after he jumped a barrier at a Trump rally and rushed the stage. Later Saturday, Trump tweeted out a video of the man at an earlier protest overlaid with Arabic text and music. But that video appears simply to be an altered version of an original video that didn’t include any Arabic. And no law enforcement agency has indicated Dimassimo has any ties to terrorism.

After Todd confronted him about the video, Trump said all he knew about the situation was “what’s on the Internet.”

“He was dragging a flag along the ground and he was playing a certain type of music. And supposedly, there was chatter about ISIS,” Trump said. “Now, I don’t know. What do I know about it? All I know is what’s on the Internet.”

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly listed the location of Donald Trump's rally in Saturday where a protester rushed the stage.