Trump rally protester attacked in ‘senseless’ act of political violence, Ohio mayor says

At least two men at President Donald Trump’s rally in Ohio attacked a female protester in a “senseless” clash decried Tuesday by the mayor of Youngstown.

Two men, one wearing an adjustable baseball cap and a bald man wearing a dark T-shirt, put their hands on a woman Monday during the GOP event at the Covelli Center in Youngstown, several videos of the incident showed.

The man in the blue baseball cap stomped on the woman, wearing a shirt reading “Release the Epstein Files,” and pushed her down before the bald man jumped on her.

He appeared to punch the woman in the face several times, pull her hair and put a headlock on her before uniformed law enforcement arrived to take the protester away.

“It must be emphasized emphatically that senseless (political) violence has absolutely NO place in our community or in our democratic process,” Youngstown Mayor Derrick McDowell said in a statement Tuesday afternoon.

“Regardless of a person’s political affiliation or viewpoint, anyone attending a public event has the right to do so without fear of being assaulted or threatened,” he wrote. “I unequivocally condemn this senseless conduct.”

Youngstown police were not at this event, with security provided by the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office and the United States Secret Service, according to the mayor.

It was not immediately clear if anyone had been arrested or charged in connection with the incident. Representatives for the sheriff and the Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office could not immediately be reached by NBC News on Tuesday.

The violence briefly delayed Trump’s speech as he watched the assault unfold.

He mocked the protester’s weight and claimed, without proof, that the woman must have been paid to be there.

“You know these are paid protesters,” Trump said. “He’s a very low class protester.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The president, as in Ohio, is seeking to bolster the GOP’s hopes in what has been a reliably red state. Sen. Jon Husted is trailing in the polls against former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown and former Trump rival Vivek Ramaswamy is also engaged in a tight battle for governor against Democrat Amy Acton.