Thursday, April 14, 2016
Associated Press
pittsburgh
A Donald Trump rally in Pittsburgh drew thousands to a downtown convention center Wednesday evening – as well as hundreds of protesters who gathered outside the venue, chanting and waving signs.
As Trump’s supporters filed out at the end of the rally, the two sides engaged in heated verbal confrontations, with supporters chanting “USA!” and “Build that wall!” and protesters shouting profanities. Police in riot gear separated the sides.
Pittsburgh police spokeswoman Emily Schaffer said there were some minor injuries, including to police officers, but she did not have additional details.
Meanwhile, a handful of former contestants from Trump’s reality show “The Apprentice” say the Republican front-runner should not be president.
Half a dozen past hopefuls of the hit show, including Season 4 winner Randal Pinkett and Season 1 runner-up Kwame Jackson, are planning a press conference Friday in New York to denounce the GOP front-runner’s bid ahead of the state’s Tuesday primary.
In statements, the contestants slammed Trump’s rhetoric as divisive and accused him of running a “campaign of sexism, xenophobia, racism, violence and hate.”
Trump responded with a harshly worded statement slamming the group as “six failing wannabes” to whom he’d shown nothing but respect.
“How quickly they forget,” he said in the statement. “Nobody would know who they are if it weren’t for me.”
Trump has the support of other former “Apprentice” contenders, including Youngstown native Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth, who has served as a surrogate and frequent defender of Trump on television news shows.