A Montana man accused of fracturing a teen’s skull because the boy didn’t remove his hat during the national anthem thought he was acting on an order from President Trump, his attorney claims.

Curt James Brockway, an Army veteran who suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2000, was influenced by the president’s “rhetoric” when he grabbed the 13-year-old by the throat and slammed him to the ground at the Mineral County fairgrounds on Saturday, attorney Lance Jasper told the Missoulian.

“His commander-in-chief is telling people that if they kneel, they should be fired, or if they burn a flag, they should be punished,” Jasper told the newspaper. “He certainly didn’t understand it was a crime.”

Brockway, 39, was honorably discharged from the military after sustaining a traumatic brain injury while driving home to visit his family when he was stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington, Jasper said.

The resulting injury to Brockway’s frontal lobe — which controls key cognitive functions such as memory and judgment — coupled with Trump’s calls for NFL owners to fire players who protest during the national anthem left him unable to think clearly, Jasper said.

“Obviously [Brockway] owes a big portion of accountability for what took place, but it’s certain that there was other things at work here that definitely contributed,” the attorney continued. “Trump never necessarily says go hurt somebody, but the message is absolutely clear. I am certain of the fact that [Brockway] was doing what he believed he was told to do, essentially, by the president.”

Jasper said he intends to argue that Brockway’s “mental illness or brain injury” combined with “permission given by the president” led to the vicious assault.

“Whether that passes muster with the court as a viable defense is for a different day,” he said.

Brockway told a deputy he spotted a teen with a hat during the national anthem as a rodeo got started and asked the youngster to take it off. The teen then cursed at Brockway, prompting him to grab the child, and he “lifted him into the air and slammed the boy into the ground,” court documents show.

The teen, who was airlifted to a hospital, has since returned home after treatment for a concussion and temporal skull fractures, KPAX reports. His mother told the station he bled from his ear for nearly six hours after the brutal attack.

The incident was not the first time Brockway’s brain injury affected his actions, Jasper said, citing a 2010 charge of assault with a weapon after Brockway pulled a gun on a relative. A judge sentenced him to 10 years of probation in that case, but Brockway successfully petitioned for early release in February, the Missoulian reports.