This morning Donald Trump defended the 78-year-old man who was recently caught on video sucker-punching a black protester being escorted out of a rally. Trump also said he’s looking into covering his legal fees.

“The fact is I’ve had very peaceful rallies,” Trump told Meet the Press’s Chuck Todd. “We haven’t had a real injury or anything. And then Chicago I canceled and I did a great thing by canceling it because who needs the problems, who needs people getting hurt? I didn’t want that.”


Todd asked how that can be true when he encourages his supporters to fight back against protesters.

“You’ve got to stop them, do whatever you have to do,” Trump said. ”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.”

Todd asked Trump if he’ll cover the legal fees for the man who sucker-punched a protester, as he had offered to do so during an earlier rally. Trump initially said he wants to see the video first, but then said “I’ve instructed my people” to look into helping.