After a Monday report from local network WRAL that North Carolina law enforcement were considering charges against Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump for “inciting a riot,” a police spokesman said that was not the case.
Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Sean Swain told the Daily Beast “we would have made the charges by now” if Trump’s actions violated state law.
Swain also told the site Sheriff Kevin Joyce said on local radio Monday that police “had looked at” charging Trump after a protester was punched at his Fayetteville, North Carolina rally.
Local news site WRAL had earlier reported the sheriff’s office was weighing whether to charge Trump in connection with the incident, where John McGraw, 78, allegedly sucker-punched a black protester being escorted out of the venue.
McGraw was criminally charged with assault, battery, and disorderly conduct in the incident.
The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to TPM requests for comment.
