President Donald Trump griped on Sunday night about the FBI opening an investigation into an incident last week in which a throng of his supporters ambushed one of Democratic candidate Joe Biden’s campaign buses on a highway in Texas.
After the FBI announced earlier on Sunday that its San Antonio branch “is aware of the incident and investigating,” Trump leapt to his supporters’ defense.
“In my opinion, these patriots did nothing wrong,” Trump tweeted. “Instead, the FBI & Justice should be investigating the terrorists, anarchists, and agitators of ANTIFA, who run around burning down our Democrat run cities and hurting our people!”
The President echoed the same complaint on Monday morning and baselessly claimed the allegations of harassment were made up somehow.
“This story is FALSE. They did nothing wrong,” he tweeted. “But the ANTIFA Anarchists, Rioters and Looters, who have caused so much harm and destruction in Democrat run cities, are being seriously looked at!”
The President had applauded the debacle on Saturday prior to the FBI’s announcement.
The Biden campaign was forced to cancel multiple events on Friday in response to a crowd of trucks bearing pro-Trump flags swarming around a campaign bus (Biden himself was not present during the incident). The skirmish led to a mild collision between an SUV and a truck, according to the Guardian.
Trump has routinely downplayed violence and intimidation tactics from his supporters and/or right-wing extremists, deflecting instead to “antifa” (short for the anti-fascist movement) and claiming extremism from the left poses the “real” threat.
