--- title: Donald Trump Protester Punched at North Carolina Rally description: A Donald Trump supporter punched a protester in the face at a rally in Fayetteville, N.C., on Wednesday, according to multiple videos canonical: https://time.com/4253898/donald-trump-protester-north-carolina-rally-punched/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-10T15:41:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-15T04:42:40.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Protester Punched at North Carolina Rally og:description: It's the latest in a string of violent incidents at recent Trump rallies og:url: https://time.com/4253898/donald-trump-protester-north-carolina-rally-punched/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe11117d5b4d5bef/69888a78ab6d771e926a8cbe/donald-trump-fayetteville.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: GOP Donald Trump in North Carolina Before Primary Vote og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Protester Punched at North Carolina Rally twitter:description: It's the latest in a string of violent incidents at recent Trump rallies twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe11117d5b4d5bef/69888a78ab6d771e926a8cbe/donald-trump-fayetteville.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Protester Punched in the Face at North Carolina Rally > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Updated: Dec 15, 2023 4:42 AM UTCPublished: Mar 10, 2016 3:41 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Crown Center Coliseum in Fayetteville, N.C,. on March 9, 2016. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Crown Center Coliseum in Fayetteville, N.C,. on March 9, 2016.Al Drago—CQ Roll Call/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Updated: Dec 15, 2023 4:42 AM UTCPublished: Mar 10, 2016 3:41 PM UTC A Donald Trump supporter was charged with assault after [punching a protester in the face](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/03/10/trump-protester-sucker-punched-at-north-carolina-rally-videos-show/?tid=ss%5Ffb) at a rally in Fayetteville, N.C., authorities said Thursday. John McGraw, 78, of Linden was charged with assault and battery and disorderly conduct after multiple videos surfaced from the Wednesday attack, Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Sean Swain told TIME. Rakeem Jones, 26, was being led out of the rally when he was punched by a man in the stands and then tackled to the ground by law enforcement officers, the Washington _Post_ reported. “My eye still hurts. It’s just shocking. The shock of it all is starting to set in. It’s like this dude really hit me and they let him get away with it. I was basically in police custody and got hit,” Jones said in an interview with the _Post_. “It’s happening at all these rallies now and they’re letting it ride,” he said. Violence has broken out at [several Trump rallies](http://time.com/4241899/donald-trump-rally-time-photographer-chris-morris/) recently. A black activist was [reportedly punched and choked](http://time.com/4123674/black-activist-punched-trump-rally/) in November, and Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields was [forcibly grabbed](http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-media/2016/03/trump-campaign-manager-breitbart-reporter-220472) by Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski after a press conference on Tuesday, Politico reported. At a [rally in Las Vegas](http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/23/politics/donald-trump-nevada-rally-punch/) last month, Trump strongly rebuked a man who had disrupted the rally and was escorted out. “I’d like to punch him in the face,” Trump said, adding protesters “in the old days” would be “carried out on stretchers.” Jones, who is black, said he attended the rally as a “social experiment” with a group that included a Muslim, a white woman and a gay man. He said the woman started shouting once Trump’s speech started but no one in the group attempted to get physical. Ronnie Rouse, who attended the rally with Jones and filmed the incident, told the _Post_ that people in the crowd shouted racial epithets at them as they left. “I’ve never been more embarrassed to be from here in my life,” he said. “It’s just appalling.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4253898/donald-trump-protester-north-carolina-rally-punched/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4253898/donald-trump-protester-north-carolina-rally-punched/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Protester Punched in the Face at North Carolina Rally","datePublished":"2016-03-10T15:41:47.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-15T04:42:40.000Z","description":"It's the latest in a string of violent incidents at recent Trump rallies","url":"https://time.com/4253898/donald-trump-protester-north-carolina-rally-punched/","keywords":["Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe11117d5b4d5bef/69888a78ab6d771e926a8cbe/donald-trump-fayetteville.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe11117d5b4d5bef/69888a78ab6d771e926a8cbe/donald-trump-fayetteville.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"GOP Donald Trump in North Carolina Before Primary Vote","caption":"GOP Donald Trump in North Carolina Before Primary Vote","creditText":"Al Drago—CQ Roll Call/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4253898/donald-trump-protester-north-carolina-rally-punched/","name":"Donald Trump Protester Punched in the Face at North Carolina Rally"}}]}] ```