Summer of protests runs into fall election season
Protests could affect November election; senior political correspondent Mike Emanuel reports.
Fox News contributor Dan Bongino was one of several Republican National Convention attendees who were harassed by protesters outside the White House following President Trump's speech on Thursday night.
Bongino shared a video on Friday morning that he had recorded showing several protesters, whom he referred to as "BLM terrorists" shouting at him and his wife, Paula. One of them is heard repeatedly shouting, "Is that your b---h wife?" Paula, according to Bongino, was also referred to as a "b---h-a--" and was told "Ho, learn to walk in heels."
Another protester in the video is heard telling Bongino, "You're an embarrassment."
"The minute you walked out ... they were all waiting right there, alleged protesters," Bongino, a former Secret Service agent, said on his radio show. "You have to be careful. We're not the violent ones. I'm not gonna be the one who initiates any type of violent action, ever. It's not what I do. It's never what I did. However, like any sane human being, I will defend myself if you put your hands on me. Nobody did that."
Bongino said he and his wife walked "two or three more blocks being called 'racist'" and estimated receiving "50-60 middle fingers."
"I'm not a violent man, never will be. There's no excuse for preemptive violence. None, I'm sorry, not in a civilized country. But if you want to dance, we can dance. They don't want to dance," he said.
Bongino recalled one of the protesters vowing to follow "these motherf-----s" back to their hotel, which he said they did.
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"These guys and women are total cowards and chumps," Bongino told his listeners. "They attack in packs ... It's like they have this hive mind ... they know they have to attack in packs because they are legitimately chumps. When you stare them in the face, they look down, they won't do anything ... They're total cowards when you confront them. Totally. Mark my words. They don't have a shred of courage or dignity, but they do attack in packs and it gives them, like, collective power because they know that if it breaks bad for them, their friends will hit you with a skateboard."
The radio host said the ordeal went on for "a half an hour" and roughly 20 protesters gathered around them.
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"These are not protests," Bongino stressed. "Not only are these not peaceful protests, throw that out the window. These are not protests! They're not protests! We saw these people, some of them, leaving our hotel we were staying at this morning at six o'clock. Why are they staying at a hotel? How did they get there? The hotel we stayed at wasn't cheap! Did we not see three of them this morning, Paula, walking out? Yes we did! These are not protests. This is a paid, organized mob of lunatics. This is not a protest."
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and his wife as well as Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., and Georgia Democratic Rep. Vernon Jones were also seen being harassed by demonstrators.
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