Within moments of taking the stage, Trump had started making false claims about the 2020 US election being stolen from him. And he suggested to the crowd that he should be allowed to stand again in 2028
(Image: AP)
Donald Trump was repeatedly heckled and interrupted during a speech in Iowa as he faces a mounting wave of anger against his administration.
The US President’s speech to a rally in Iowa was disrupted when a series of demonstrators shouted in protest. “You do know they are paid agitators, right?” Trump claimed as the second protester was removed from the venue. “They get paid. These are all paid agitators, that’s all they are. They get paid. They’re paid insurrectionists. They’re sickos.”
Within moments of taking the stage, Trump had started making false claims about the 2020 US election being stolen from him. And he suggested to the crowd that he should be allowed to stand again in 2028.
He said: “After a rigged election, we had a rigged election, I said, ‘do we do it again?’ I said ‘I think we’d better do it again.’ Not too many people would have said that. But we did so well the second time that I said ‘well, we won twice, we’d better do it a third time.'” He added: “Shall we do it a fourth time?”
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Trump has often claimed throughout his life and career that people protesting against him were paid to do so, and has never presented any evidence. However the Mirror revealed in 2016 that Trump had paid Scottish students £20 each to protest against wind farms near his Scottish golf course.
As Trump left the White House on Tuesday to head to Iowa, he was repeatedly questioned by reporters about the killing of Alex Pretti by ICE agents in Minnesota. Trump disputed language used by his own deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, who on social media described Pretti as an “assassin” who “tried to murder federal agents.” Vice President JD Vance shared the post. Asked if he believed Pretti was an assassin, said, “No.”
When asked if he thought Pretti’s killing was justified, Trump called it “a very sad situation” and said a “big investigation” was underway. “I’m going to be watching over it, and I want a very honorable and honest investigation. I have to see it myself,” he said. He also said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who was quick to cast Pretti as a violent instigator, would not be resigning.
Later, as he greeted diners at an Iowa restaurant, Trump weighed in further with comments that were likely to exacerbate frustration among some of his backers who are also strong Second Amendment proponents.
“He certainly shouldn’t have been carrying a gun,” Trump said of Pretti. He called it a “very, very unfortunate incident but said, “I don’t like that he had a gun. I don’t like that he had two fully loaded magazines. That’s a lot of bad stuff.”