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WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump suggested Sunday that the FBI should stop investigating an incident in which supporters were seen surrounding a Biden campaign bus in Texas, prompting Democrats to cancel an event. there.
The president’s tweet came hours after the FBI confirmed that it was “aware of the incident and investigating.”
On Sunday night, Trump retweeted a screenshot of the FBI statement, adding: “In my opinion, these patriots did nothing wrong. Instead, the FBI and Justice should be investigating the terrorists, anarchists and agitators of ANTIFA, who run burning our cities ruled by Democrats and harming our people. “
An FBI spokesman said the office had no comment on the president’s tweet.
Trump’s tweet comes as tensions remained high between the president and FBI Director Christopher Wray, and when Trump has lobbied the Justice Department and the FBI to act against rivals, including Democratic presidential candidate Joe himself. Biden. The president has also told people around him that he is frustrated with Wray over the FBI director’s public statements on issues such as voter fraud, Russian election interference and antifa, and has discussed the possibility of removing Wray if he wins. reelection.
In videos posted to Twitter, a group of cars and trucks, many adorned with large Trump flags, can be seen traveling alongside the campaign bus on Friday, and sometimes embedding it, as it traveled from San Antonio to Austin. At one point, one of the vans can be seen colliding with an SUV driving behind the bus.
Neither Biden nor his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, were on board the bus. The campaign canceled an event later that day.
On Saturday, Trump tweeted a video of his supporters following the Biden campaign bus, adding: “I LOVE TEXAS!”
The chairman of the Texas Democratic Party did not directly address the incident, but said people should “ignore the noise and go vote.”
“Voting is the only thing that matters at this time,” said President Gilberto Hinojosa in a statement.
This weekend, caravans of Trump supporters also blocked New York’s Mario Cuomo Bridge, which spans the Hudson River between Tarrytown and Nyack, and jammed traffic on New Jersey’s Garden State Parkway. Videos posted online showed some of the supporters jumping out of their cars on the bridge as rain poured down the road, waving Trump flags and cheering.
“We have never had anything like this. At least we’ve never had a president who thinks it’s a good thing, ”Biden said during a campaign event in the suburbs of Philadelphia.
Trump’s tweet on Sunday underscored the Trump administration’s increased effort to highlight and crack down on protest-related violence, especially in cities run by Democratic mayors in an effort to showcase what Trump says his prowess is at law and order. Trump has mocked the protesters and played with violence around the protests, although most of them have been peaceful.
The Justice Department has filed more than 300 cases against defendants in nationwide riot cases since May. An Associated Press review of thousands of pages of court documents found that very few of the defendants appear to be affiliated with highly organized extremist groups, as the president suggested.
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Associated Press writers Jake Bleiberg in Dallas and Alexandra Jaffe in Philadelphia contributed to this report.
