Hillary Clinton speaks during a "Get Out the Vote" event at The Ritz Ybor on March 10, 2016, in Tampa, Fla. | Getty Clinton 'truly distraught' by Trump rally assault

Hillary Clinton excoriated the Donald Trump campaign and the climate Trump has fostered after a man punched a protester at the Republican candidate's rally in North Carolina on Wednesday night.

“Count me among those who are truly distraught and even appalled by a lot of what I see going on, what I hear being said," Clinton told MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show" in an interview airing Thursday night. "You know, you don't make America great by, you know, dumping on everything that made America great, like freedom of speech and assembly and, you know, the right of people to protest.”


Clinton called the incident, in which a man is seen on video punching 26-year-old Rakeem Jones as police escort Jones from the venue, "deeply distressing." She added, “as the campaign goes further, more and more Americans are going to be really disturbed by the kind of campaign he's running.”

John McGraw, 78, was charged Thursday on assault and battery and disorderly conduct charges. McGraw betrayed no sense of remorse following the incident, telling "Inside Edition" that Jones "deserved it" and the "next time we see him, we might have to kill him."

Speaking to MSNBC's Kate Snow on Thursday, Jones responded to the Trump campaign's assertion that it was not involved. "I mean, I'm pretty sure if they heard him, I would -- they sound pretty involved to me, what he was saying, telling me to go home to my mom," Jones said, referring to a Trump taunt. "I mean, if he really knew my mom, that would be considered a death threat, to be honest, if he knew that my mom was deceased. So I mean, sound pretty involved to me.

Clinton also tweeted her condemnation of those remarks.

This kind of behavior is repugnant. We set the tone for our campaigns—we should encourage respect, not violence. https://t.co/reqTlYTRHv — Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) March 10, 2016

Later Thursday Bernie Sanders weighed in and called on Trump to take action.

"No one in America should ever fear for their safety at a political rally. This ugly incident confirms that the politics of division has no place in our country. Mr. Trump should take responsibility for addressing his supporters' violent actions," Sanders said in a statement.

Eliza Collins contributed reporting.