The Donald Trump supporter caught in the melee following an Orange County appearance of the presidential candidate spoke out Friday night.
Bloodied and bandaged, Cole Bartiromo was lifted onto a stretcher outside the Donald Trump rally in Costa Mesa Thursday night, and taken away from the chaos.
Video from his cell phone captured the moment he says an angry group of anti-Trump protesters attacked him.
“They just came in from the side and the back, blindsided me, cheap shots,” he says. “I just started panicking knowing that they another 5, 10 seconds, if they're not stopping they might kill me.”
The tension started long before the attack. Bartiromo shot some video as he arrived at the rally.
He says he was documenting the rally for his own vlogging website.
“Look at this ******right here,” he can be heard saying. “This is the pond scum of America right here. The welfare pond scum of America.”
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Before the rally he posted on Facebook "Whose in? (sic) Need to film me confronting the protesters that are ruining America with their PC robot script culture and welfare existence.."
When asked if he intended to stir up the crowd, Bartiromo says no.
“No, just filming them as they are is good enough. I think how they act speaks for itself,” he says.
