Man arrested at Pennsylvania Trump rally tried to hang protest sign, police say

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania. — A man arrested last week at a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Pennsylvania hoped to hang a sign to protest Trump’s policies, the Johnstown police chief said Tuesday.

Authorities announced that Stephen A. Weiss, a 36-year-old from Pittsburgh who was arrested Friday at a Trump rally, has been charged with misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Johnstown Police Chief Richard Pritchard said investigators don’t know what was written on the banner because arena staff apparently threw it away. He said it was made from a bedsheet and that Weiss told a detective he didn’t believe in Trump’s policies.

Pritchard said Weiss faked a foot injury and hid a tube of glue in a metal ball.

Weiss declined to comment when reached by phone Tuesday, saying he was seeking legal advice.

An arrest affidavit filed by a Johnstown police detective said Weiss “ran into the arena, jumped on the media stage (and) began yelling toward the main stage where President Trump was speaking.” Weiss allegedly refused to free himself from the steel barricade fence “and force was required,” police said in the charging document.

A man who accompanied Weiss to the rally told police he had no knowledge of Weiss’s plan, Pritchard said. The other man has not been charged, the chief said.

Weiss was also charged with disrupting a public meeting, a misdemeanor. The Secret Service questioned Weiss Friday and he was released that night. He has a court hearing scheduled for Oct. 9.

A Trump campaign spokesman did not immediately provide comment Tuesday.

The disruption came shortly after Trump criticized mainstream media for what he said was unfavorable coverage of events.

As Weiss was led away, the former president said to the crowd: “Is there anywhere that would be more fun than a Trump rally?”

Security has been stepped up at Trump rallies since a gunman shot him, grazing his ear, during an outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July. Security at political events has been noticeably tighter since then.