By Jose A. DelReal,
Anne Gearan
and Ed O'Keefe
November 6,
2016
RENO — Donald Trump was rushed off stage
Saturday night during a campaign rally here as security officials swarmed, but
the candidate emerged back on stage after a few minutes and finished his
speech.
The U.S. Secret Service later said in a
statement that it took action after “an unidentified individual shouted ‘gun’”
in front of the stage. Agents apprehended the person, but found no gun, the
statement said, adding that an investigation into the incident continues.
Trump concluded his rally without further
incident.
Secret Service agents later released the man,
who identified himself as Austyn Crites, 33, according to reports. He said he
was holding a “Republicans against Trump” sign.
“When I pulled out the sign, people around me
were trying to grab the sign,” Crites told reporters, according to reports on
the local Fox and NBC affiliate websites. “And so all that was occurring was
booing, of course. That’s what you would expect.”
People from the surrounding crowd tackled him,
Crites said. They started “kicking me and grabbing me in the crotch and just,
just beating the crap out of me,” Crites said.
The GOP presidential nominee later released a
statement thanking the Secret Service and local law enforcement for their “fast
and professional response,” adding that “nothing will stop us — we will make
America great again!”
Meanwhile, a press bus carrying reporters
covering Democratic vice-presidential nominee Sen Tim Kaine’s stops in Florida
was hit at high speed, according to
reporters traveling with the senator. There were no immediate
reports of injuries. Kaine was several cars ahead of the press bus, according
to reporters in his motorcade.
Earlier in the day, Hillary Clinton’s campaign
announced she will campaign in Michigan on Monday, as polls show her
once-comfortable lead in the state eroding and as Trump eyes it as a potential
way to come from behind in the hunt for electoral votes.
That announcement from the Clinton campaign
came as Trump also rejiggered his itinerary, making plans for last-minute stops
in Virginia, where Clinton has led but Republicans are catching up.
The GOP nominee spent Saturday hopscotching the
country, rallying with supporters in North Carolina,
as well as Florida,
Colorado
and Nevada —
and he announced plans to visit Minnesota,
a traditionally Democratic state where polls showing him trailing by about five
points. In his speech in Nevada late Saturday, Trump attacked elections
officials for allowing a predominantly Hispanic early voting site in the Las
Vegas area to stay open for “hours and hours.”
President Obama will also campaign in Michigan
on Monday, suggesting that Democrats see danger signs there. Clinton will be in
Grand Rapids, Obama in Ann Arbor. Former president Bill Clinton will make a stop
in Lansing on Sunday.
“There are just three days left in this most
consequential election,” Clinton told a cheering crowd of about 10,000 an
open-air rally and concert in Philadelphia on Saturday night.
Clinton noted the millions of people of have
voted early and urged Pennsylvania voters to help “send a message” about
American values and ideals.
“I believe they are standing up for a hopeful,
inclusive vision of America and I’m asking you to stand up for that same
vision,” Clinton said.
Over the last two weeks much of Clinton’s focus
has been on Florida and North Carolina, as well as Nevada, where early voting
is now winding down.
But her campaign manager Robby Mook, conceded
to reporters on Saturday that “we have seen tightening in the Midwest generally
this cycle, and we are taking that seriously.”
Clinton communications director Jennifer
Palmieri told reporters Saturday that in addition to a previously announced
stop in Manchester, N.H., on Sunday night, Clinton will add a rally in
Cleveland earlier Sunday. On Monday in addition to Michigan, Clinton will add a
midnight rally in Raleigh, N.C. Another large evening rally had also been
announced for Philadelphia that night.
Palmieri said that Khizr Khan will speak at the
New Hampshire rally. Khan is the father of fallen soldier Humayun Khan, whose
challenge to Trump over the Republican’s proposed ban on Muslim immigration was
among the most memorable moments of the Democratic convention.
Trump’s focus on Saturday night was Nevada,
where polls show the race tied.
Campaigning in Reno, Trump denounced a decision
by elections officials to keep open an early voting site “for hours and hours.”
Early voting
totals in Clark County, Nev., which encompasses Las Vegas, topped
57,000, according to local officials. A supermarket doubling as an early-voting
site in the county was allowed to stay open for two additional hours on Friday
night as thousands of people remained in line to vote. It is customary for
state elections officials across the country to authorize keeping a polling
site open later if there are long lines at closing time.
Regardless, Trump claimed that officials
allowed Clinton supporters to “bus and bring Democratic voters in. Folks, it’s
a rigged system. It’s a rigged system and we’re going to beat it. We’re going
to beat it. I’ve been saying it’s a rigged system.”
Trump continued his emphasis on Clinton’s
emails controversy throughout the day Saturday, citing the FBI’s announcement
last week that it would revive an inquiry into her use of a private email
server at the State Department. In Reno, he said that if Clinton were elected,
her presidency would lead to “an unprecedented constitutional crisis.”
“We could very well have a sitting president
under felony indictment and ultimately a criminal trial. It would grind
government to a halt, of course that’s what we have right now under Obama
anyway,” he told the crowd in Reno. “We need a government that can work, and
work well from day one for the American people. That would be impossible with
Hillary Clinton, the prime suspect in a far-reaching criminal investigation.”
In the aftermath of the event’s disruption,
when security officers removed Trump from the stage and later said they found
no weapon, Trump campaign aides and the candidate’s son, Donald Trump Jr.,
retweeted a supporter who credited Trump for returning to the stage after an “assassination
attempt” and noted that Clinton had cut an event short earlier Saturday in
Florida because of rain.
Trump, Pence and key campaign surrogates also
will swing through Virginia this weekend and into Monday. Trump will hold a 10
p.m. rally Sunday at a fairgrounds in the Northern Virginia swing territory of
Loudoun County, his campaign announced on Saturday. Pence was scheduled to
appear at a suburban Richmond Saturday afternoon and at a rally at George Mason
University at 8 p.m. Saturday. Two of Trump’s children — Donald Trump Jr. and
Ivanka Trump — are planning stops in Northern Virginia on Sunday and Monday,
respectively.
In the closing days of the campaign, polling
averages compiled by The Washington Post continue to show a close contest in several
battleground states. In Michigan, Clinton now holds just a two-point edge over
Trump, 43 to 41 percent. She also holds a slim lead in New Hampshire (43-41),
which accounts for the renewed attention there in the closing days.
In Colorado, Clinton is up 43 percent to 41
percent. In Arizona, Trump leads by three points (46-43). Clinton is ahead by
six points in New Mexico (40-34) and five points in North Carolina (48-43),
Pennsylvania (47-42) and Wisconsin (45-40). She’s up by four points in Virginia
(45-41).
Trump holds a five-point lead in Ohio (46-41),
where Clinton held a star-studded campaign rally on Friday night with rapper
Jay-Z and Beyoncé, his wife.
The race remains tick-tock tight in Nevada,
where the candidates are tied at 44 percent each. In Florida, Clinton has a
one-point, 47 to 46 percent advantage. Trump leads in Georgia (47-45); Iowa
(46-41); and Utah (35-28) where third-party candidate Evan McMullin has been
polling well.
Poll averages calculated by The Washington Post
for Clinton and Trump reflect recent polls that also include McMullin,
Libertarian Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein where they are on
the ballot and where results are available.
As the race enters its final stretch, the
Clinton campaign continues to push back aggressively against the FBI’s decision
to revive the inquiry into Clinton’s email.
Campaigning in Florida on Saturday, Kaine
(D-Va.), the Democratic vice-presidential candidate, sharply criticized the FBI
and its director, James Comey, for the development.
In an interview with the Fusion television
network, Kaine faulted Comey for breaking agency protocol by discussing a
politically sensitive case so close to an election.
Comey’s decision to alert Congress about his
review of the Clinton case “suggests that it’s probably more likely explained
that [Comey] knew that the FBI is not only a leaky sieve but there were people
within the FBI actively working — actively working — to try to help the Trump
campaign,” Kaine said. “This just absolutely staggering, and it is a massive
blow to the integrity of [the FBI].”
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