President Donald Trump alleged that a protester who interrupted his Ohio rally on Wednesday with shouts about Jeffrey Epstein was a paid agitator, claiming the individual received $250 to create a disturbance. Trump did not provide evidence for the assertion, according to TMZ.com.
The interruption occurred while the President was delivering remarks. When the heckler began yelling about Epstein, Trump paused his speech as the crowd responded with boos. The President then addressed his past association with Epstein, telling the audience, "I threw Jeffrey Epstein out of a club like 20 years ago because I thought he was a whackjob," as reported by TMZ.com.
Trump specified that the club in question was his Mar-a-Lago property located in Palm Beach, Florida. He further sought to separate himself from Epstein on political grounds, stating, "He was a Democrat. He always came around with Democrats," according to TMZ.com.
Beyond the exchange over Epstein, the President also appeared to make a personal insinuation about the heckler's sexuality, a remark that drew cheers from the crowd, TMZ.com reported.
The rally also featured Trump returning to a theme from earlier in the month: the physical appearance of Ohio Senator Jon Husted. At a prior Ohio event, the President remarked that he had assessed Husted's physique to determine the Senator was a skilled athlete. A few days afterward, while speaking to an audience in Kentucky, Trump again brought up the Ohio Senator's rear end, according to TMZ.com.
The remarks come as Ohio remains a focal point of midterm political attention. The President's comments about Husted, a sitting Senator from Ohio, have become a recurring element of his recent rally speeches in the region.