Trump Phones Supporter After Insult at Rally

During his rally in New Hampshire Thursday night, the AP reports President Trump made fun of a man's weight after mistaking him for an anti-Trump protester. The incident received plenty of coverage, and CNN reports that Trump got the man's name and phone number afterward, called him from Air Force One, and left a voicemail. Maggie Haberman of the New York Times tweets that Trump told the man "he wasn’t talking about him" when he made the fat jokes, according to White House aides. That adds a wrinkle of confusion to the story. The man Trump called out has been identified as law enforcement and Navy veteran Frank Dawson, reports the Hill.

Dawson, who yanked an anti-Trump sign away from protesters near him, appeared on Fox News and said he thought Trump was talking about him in a case of mistaken identity. “He didn’t see me rip the signs away from those three people that were sitting near us,” Dawson said on Fox. “I think he thought I was part of it, but I wasn’t. I was the good part of it." As the incident unfolded, Trump said to the crowd, "That guy’s got a serious weight problem. Go home, start exercising." (Video of Trump's comments is here, though it doesn't make clear who Trump was talking about.) Either way, Dawson is still a Trump supporter. “I love the guy," Dawson said. "He’s the best thing that ever happened to this country." (More President Trump stories.)