President Donald Trump’s lawyers claimed the president is within his First Amendment rights to instruct followers to use “reasonable force” in ejecting protesters at his campaign rallies. The claim was part of an emergency motion asking the U.S. court of appeals in Ohio to dismiss a lawsuit filed by three people who alleged they were assaulted at a Trump rally in March of 2016. The lawyers wrote that it mattered not that the followers used excessive force since Trump was using protected speech that could not be construed as incitement. (Los Angeles Times, July 25, 2017, by David G. Savage)
Four protesters showed up at Trump’s rally in Youngstown, Ohio on July 24, but no one was arrested or beaten. One protester held a sign, “Trump/Pence Must Go” and another held up a Russian flag. The police escorted all four from the building with little or no resistance. (WKBN27, July 25, 2017, by WKBN Staff)