Trump Backpedals On Helping “Backer”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump is backing away from a suggestion that he might cover legal costs for a supporter who was involved in an altercation at a rally last week.

In a telephone interview Tuesday with ABC's "Good Morning America," Trump was asked about a series of violent incidents at his campaign events and repeated his statement that he doesn't "condone violence."

At the rally last week in Fayetteville, North Carolina, an older white Trump supporter was caught on video punching a younger African-American protester as police led the protester away. The supporter, 78-year-old John Franklin McGraw, was later charged with assault and disorderly conduct.

Trump suggested afterward that he might help the supporter, saying he'd asked his staff to look into it.

But he reversed field in Tuesday's interview, saying, "I never said I was going to pay for fees." Asked if it had appeared he was encouraging violence with his initial statement, Trump replied, "Well, maybe so. Maybe that's why I wouldn't do it."