Yesterday, at a rally for President Donald Trump in El Paso, Texas a cameraman for the BBC was reportedly attacked by a man in a Make America Great Again hat.
The cameraman’s partner, Eleanor Montague, said it was the first Trump rally she attended. She said the crowd had been whipped up into a frenzy by the president, and she shared video of the immediate aftermath of the attack, where she said her cameraman, Ron Skeans, was “assaulted.”
Skean said in the BBC that he was “shoved from behind.”
In it, a man in a MAGA hat is seeing being restrained and is shouting “Fuck the media.”
Just attended my first @realDonaldTrump rally where my colleague BBC cameraman Rob Skeans was attacked by a Trump supporter. The crowd had been whipped up into a frenzy against the media by Trump and other speakers all night #TrumpElPaso pic.twitter.com/Oiw8osPms3
— Eleanor Montague (@EleanorMontague) February 12, 2019
Here’s another angle, after the @USAFrontline reporter had already grabbed the guy.
— Jacob Rascon (@jacobabc13) February 12, 2019
The crowd chanted “Trump! Trump!” Then the president looked at the media pen and asked, “You all right? Everything OK?” pic.twitter.com/Xsn30MrNPD
Other angles from another reporter, Anna Giratelli, showed the aftermath of the attack, she said the man also knocked over several cameras.
https://twitter.com/Anna_Giaritelli/status/1095160224070156288
According to Giaritelli, writing in the Washington Examiner, Trump noticed the skirmish and asked if “everyone was okay before returning to his speech.” The crowd, meanwhile, chanted “CNN sucks,” a favorite refrain at the president’s rallies.
Here is how Trump reacted when a BBC reporter was attacked at his rally last night.
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 12, 2019
Note that the crowd responds by chanting, “CNN sucks!” pic.twitter.com/xnobvBO7Ez
Throughout both his campaign and his presidency, Trump has been accused of repeatedly inciting violence against the media, calling major news outlets “the enemy of the people,” and denying factually accurate reports about his administration.
