Mar 11, 2021
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Fox “News” incorrectly implied a protester who says he was assaulted at a Donald Trump rally was using his dead grandmother’s name to commit voter fraud.
Austin Crites—whose protest during a Trump rally in Nevada prompted the Secret Service to rush the Republican candidate offstage—contacted the Guardian after learning of a Fox News segment that implied he committed voter fraud by casting a vote for his grandmother who has “been dead since 2002.”
Fox “News” host Brian Kilmeade made the claim during a segment labelled “Reno Trump protestor linked to voter fraud.”
“This morning, yet another reminder [of voter fraud] from the guy who interrupted Donald Trump’s rally on Saturday, who many people thought had a gun,” Kilmeade said. The Fox host insisted Crites, who was holding a ‘Republicans against Trump’ sign, “claimed he was a Republican” but is actually a “huge Hillary supporter.”
“His grandmother has been using [his] address to vote absentee for years,” Kilmeade said. ‘But she’s been dead since 2002.”
The only problem? His grandmother, 90-year old Wilda Austin, is “alive and well.”
Crites told the Guardian he was shocked by the report, and the barrage of falsehoods the Trump campaign pushed after the incident. Trump campaign senior media aide Dan Scavino pushed a theory that Crites was behind an “assassination attempt” against Trump.
Sunday, Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway defended Scavino’s lie, insisting Crites “is a Democratic plant or operative trying to disrupt our rally.”
Crites, a fiscal conservative who’s been a registered Republican since 2011, told the Guardian that while he canvassed for the Democratic candidate and donated to the campaign, his protest against Trump was of his own volition because he considers the Republican candidate “a textbook version of a dictator and a fascist.”
For grandma Wilda Austin, the torrent of abuse and threats since Crites came forward with his account of the Nevada rally made her hesitant to appear on camera. But she agreed to meet a licensed notary in Nevada to verify her social security documents, birth certificate and signature.
“Please correct the record,” Austin told the Guardian.
“Wilda’s very much is alive,” the grandson said.
Watch the video below, via the Guardian.
h/t: Elizabeth Preza at The Raw Story
Commotion at Trump Rally Caused by Hillary Supporter
Commotion at Trump Rally Caused by Hillary Supporter
Donald Trump was rushed off the stage last night at a rally in Reno, Nevada. The incident occurred around 9:05 p.m. According to the Secret Service statement, his protective detail removed him from the stage and ushered him away after a “commotion.” An unidentified person shouted “gun” and panicked the crowd – but it turned out there was no weapon. US Secret Service statement on @realDonaldTrump…
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The man whose protest saw Donald Trump rushed off the stage by Secret Service agents has said the Republican nominee’s supporters turned on him when he held up a sign reading: “Republicans against Trump”.
The man whose protest saw Donald Trump rushed off the stage by Secret Service agents has said the Republican nominee’s supporters turned on him when he held up a sign reading: “Republicans against Trump”.
The man, who identified himself as Austyn Crites from Reno, told the Guardian he was holding the sign at a rally when Trump supporters wrestled him to the ground.
The 33-year-old – who says he has been a registered Republican for about six years – said he was kicked, punched and choked, and feared for his life when the crowd turned on him at the gathering in Reno, Nevada.
Crites cited Trump’s treatment of Mexicans, Muslims and women as the reason he decided to protest again Trump, who he described as “a textbook version of a dictator and a fascist”.
There were panicked scenes at the Trump rally, apparently prompted by shouts from at least one person in the crowd that the protester had a gun.
Hundreds of people fled to the the back of the auditorium in panic as Trump was hurriedly rushed from the stage by his security detail.
[...]
Several Trump supporters who witnessed the incident told the Guardian they saw a man wrestled to the ground and, after he was on the ground, heard shouts that he had a weapon, prompting panic.
One of those witnesses, a Trump supporter, said he had seen the protester holding a “Republicans against Trump” sign, and assumed it had been misidentified as a weapon.
Although he described himself as a Republican and fiscal conservative, Crites said he had canvassed “for a few hours” with the Clinton campaign in Nevada because he wanted to do all he could to prevent a Trump presidency
He said he was not fully supportive of Clinton but believed she was the only candidate who could stop Trump from reaching the White House.
Crites said he had not formal connection to the Clinton campaign and decided to attend the rally on his own volition.
“[Evan] McMullin is someone I also support,” he said of the independent conservative standing for president on many states, and added that he backed Trump’s Republican opponents during the primaries. “John Kasich, for example, was a great candidate.”
Crites said he felt Trump supporters were well-meaning but simply misguided by Trump’s demagoguery. “He’s fascist, he’s a dictator,” he said of the Republican nominee, saying such leaders turn normal people “into animals”.
While he was surprised at what occurred at the rally, Crites he said he did not blame the crowd for his treatment. “I like these people,” he said. “These are my fellow Americans. I love these people. I understand that they came here because they’re patriotic, they want to do good for their country.”
He added: “The people who attacked me – I’m not blaming them. I’m blaming Donald Trump’s hate rhetoric.”
“My heart still aches for what this nation could potentially do by electing him,” he added. “That hurts me much more than any of this violence.”
“The fact that I got beat up today, that’s just showing what he’s doing to his crowds. But I just want people to understand I’m going to be OK, but now what’s more important is if the country going to be OK? So do your part and vote.”
See Also: Donald Trump is rushed off stage by Secret Service agents at rally in Nevada
h/t: Paul Lewis and Tom Silverstone at The Guardian