Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump has claimed in a tweet and during a rally in Kansas City that the man who rushed his stage Saturday morning in Ohio is possibly tied to ISIS.
USSS did an excellent job stopping the maniac running to the stage. He has ties to ISIS. Should be in jail! t.co/tkzbHg7wyD?ssr=true
At a rally in Kansas City, Trump told supporters:
He was looking to do harm. … They found his name and it was probably ISIS or ISIS-related. My people found this, they go online and they find the guy is playing all sort of, let’s say music that you wouldn’t be liking, dragging an American flag along the sidewalk, making all sorts of gestures … And he’s probably or possibly ISIS-related. … After they let him go they found all this stuff about his real love and where he comes from. Who knows what will happen when they go back to get him. Who knows if they’re ever going to find him again folks.
But there is no evidence connecting the 22-year-old Wright State University student, Thomas Dimassimo, charged in the incident to the terror group. Dimassimo is white and is originally from Powder Ridge, Georgia, near Atlanta.
The rumor appears to have started after a likely fake video featuring Dimassimo was found following his arrest. You can watch the video above.
The video was posted to YouTube last year and the original has since been deleted. It uses footage posted in a separate video showing Dimassimo at a Wright State rally where he stood on the American flag in a form of protest. You can watch the original video below:
The fake video includes Arabic-style music and has a caption in Arabic.
It appears to be a hoax video posted by a troll to discredit and mock Dimassimo. The Arabic caption roughly translates to a joke about the size of Dimassimo’s penis.
The video footage came from the Wright State protest below:
“This is not meant to individually disrespect member of military service for the sacrifices they made for this country,” Dimassimo told WKRC-TV at the event, which ended with the protesters giving the flags to veterans to be properly disposed of. “We are not anti-vet, we are not anti-troops. We are against systematic oppression and structural inequality.”
Police have not commented on Trump’s claim that Dimassimo is connected to ISIS. The Atlanta, Georgia, area native was released from custody on Saturday and faces two charges.
Read more about Dimassimo at the link below:
