HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania — A man who was arrested last week at a Pennsylvania meeting for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump hoped to hang a banner to protest Trump’s policies, the Johnstown police chief said Tuesday.
Authorities announced that charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest have been filed against Stephen A. Weiss, 36, of Pittsburgh, who was taken into custody on Friday’s Trump rally.
Johnstown Police Chief Richard Pritchard said investigators don’t know what the banner said because arena staff apparently threw it away. He said it was made from a bed sheet and that Weiss told an investigator he doesn’t believe in Trump’s policies.
Pritchard said Weiss faked a foot injury and hid a tube of glue in a metal crutch.
Weiss declined to comment by telephone Tuesday, saying he was seeking legal advice.
An arrest affidavit from a Johnstown police detective said Weiss “ran onto the arena floor, jumped onto the media podium (and) began yelling toward the main stage where President Trump was speaking.” Weiss allegedly refused to break free of the steel fence “and force had to be used,” police said in the charging document.
A man who accompanied Weiss to the meeting told police he was unaware of Weiss’ plan, Pritchard said. The second man was not charged, the chief said.
Weiss was also charged with disrupting a public meeting, a misdemeanor. The Secret Service questioned Weiss on Friday and he was released later that evening. He has a court date scheduled for Oct. 9.
A Trump campaign spokesman declined to comment Tuesday.
The disruption came shortly after Trump criticized major media outlets for what he called negative reporting.
As Weiss was led away, the former president said to the crowd, “Is there any place more fun than a Trump rally?”
There has been increased control of security at Trump rallies since a shooter shot at him, his ear, during an outdoor rally in July in Butler, Pennsylvania. Security at political events is noticeable tighter since then.
