Mark Foley called Trump "one of [his] biggest contributors" after a Florida rally Wednesday. | AP Photo Disgraced former congressman attends Trump rally

Two days after a terrorist’s father was spotted behind Hillary Clinton at a Florida speech, Donald Trump appeared in the Sunshine State and criticized her for the bad optics.

But there was one big irony that undermined Trump's message: Disgraced former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley — accused in 2006 of making sexual advances toward congressional pages — was sitting behind Trump the entire time Wednesday in Sunrise, near Fort Lauderdale.

Advertisement Disgraced former FL congressman Mark Foley is sitting behind Trump tonight in Sunshine. pic.twitter.com/7WkiElk48E — Katy Tur (@KatyTurNBC) August 11, 2016

Democrats pounced and demanded the news media highlight Foley just as reporters had pressed Clinton for an explanation as to how the father of Omar Mateen wound up in the crowd behind her as the cameras rolled.

"A certain campaign made a big deal about how campaigns must vet everyone who attends events. And then let in an alleged pedophile. Sad!" Eric Jotkoff, a Florida Democratic consultant tweeted, mocking Trump’s style of social media posts.



Trump’s criticisms of Clinton on Wednesday couldn’t have been better scripted by the Clinton campaign, which spent a day ducking questions about Mateen’s father before she disavowed him. Seddique Mateen, whose son gunned down 49 people at an Orlando nightclub in June, told a reporter at Monday's event in Kissimmee that he supported Clinton.

At his rally Wednesday, Trump drew attention to the crowd behind him by saying, “The people behind me. They're all on television. They're going to be famous … Wasn't it terrible when the father of the animal that killed the wonderful people in Orlando was sitting with a big smile on his face right behind Hillary Clinton?"

As he spoke, Trump slightly turned and pointed in the general direction of Foley, who was sitting in almost the same spot relative to Trump that Seddique Mateen occupied during Clinton’s speech.

“How many of you people know me? A lot of you people know me,” Trump said as a number of hands went up, including Foley’s.

MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts caught up with Foley after the event and asked him if he planned to vote for Trump, whose Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach bordered Foley’s old West Palm Beach-based congressional district.

“Yes,” Foley told Roberts. “He’s been a friend of mine for 30 years and [was] one of my biggest contributors.”

Foley, 61, resigned from Congress on Sept. 29, 2006. The Republican was found to have had a history of sending sexually explicit messages to male pages, including some under the age of 18. On Oct. 2, 2006, Foley checked into a rehabilitation facility for alcoholism; his lawyer subsequently stated Foley was molested as a youth by a clergyman.

David Cohen contributed to this report.

