Trump campaign defends his remarks about violence toward ...

Trump said he wouldn't "mind that so much" if reporters at a rally were shot.

November 3, 2024, 5:31 PM

Former President Donald Trump is doing damage control after seemingly espousing violence toward journalists.

During a campaign rally in Lititz, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, Trump made comments suggesting that he wouldn't mind if members of the press were killed.

While complaining about the lack of protective glass surrounding him, and how that left open the possibility of a sniper attack, Trump gestured toward the press pen in front of him and referred to reporters as "my glass." He then explained that someone would have to shoot through the "fake news" to reach him.

"I have this piece of glass here, but all we have really over here is the fake news. And to get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news. And I don't mind that so much," he said at the event, just two days before Election Day.

Trump joked that such a shooting could break out "any minute now."

“They're my glass. See? Those people are my glass,” he said, pointing to the press.

Asked by ABC News about the remark, Campaign National Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended Trump, saying, "Obviously he was joking."

Leavitt called the question "exhausting" and accused the media of picking "apart every single word that Donald Trump says when the majority of his speeches are focused on the issues that Americans care about."

Also responding to the comment, campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung falsely claimed Trump had said "nothing to do with the Media being harmed."

"There can be no other interpretation of what was said. He was actually looking out for their welfare, far more than his own," Cheung said.

Cheung falsely claimed Trump was actually "stating that the Media was in danger" and that they "should have had a glass protective shield, also."

However, in both footage and official transcripts from the event, it is evident that Trump explicitly stated he would not "mind that so much" if reporters were shot, and laughed as his supporters cheered at his remark.