An American political commentator has claimed a viral video appearing to show young White woman wearing a Trump T-shirt being kicked and racially abused by at least two black men at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania is Russian propaganda.
Journalist and podcaster Elijah Schaffer said on his Slightly Offensive show on censored.tv that he had been sent the clip by Russian sources of his and asked to post it, but said he declined because he was concerned the video was fake.
He and his guest pointed out several details about the video that made them doubt its authenticity, such as the accents of the men in the clip, that none of their faces were visible, the clothing and shoes, the gun in the underwear, the account that supposedly posted it on Instagram being gone, and the mildness of the violence.
Schaffer said the video was presented to him by his Russian sources as a “Trump supporter getting beat up by Kamala Harris supporters”, before it had appeared on the internet, but that when he told them he didn’t think it was real they gave him different suggestions on how to frame it.
“This was supposed to happen today, at a Trump rally, but they conscripted us last night to try and leak info, I thought it was new, I thought it was Ukraine, I thought I was getting a good leak, but, it was about sowing discord,” Schaffer said, adding that they then offered to pay him to post it.
“Now, I’m not going to say who, because I’m not going to throw him under the bus, but a ‘questionable fellow’ within the hour then publishes this video, that’s where it came from.
“It’s clearly the same fake video but it now has this watermark, and they frame it in the exact way that the Russians asked me to frame the post.”
The clip shows a woman huddled against a wall while bleeding and protecting her face with her arms while two men kick her and another films.
“What the fuck is wrong with you, fuck you white-ass bitch,” one of the men says as the other kicks her.
“Motherfucking, you fucking dumb, racist, motherfucking supporter, what the fuck are you doing here?” he continues.
“I don’t want to fucking see you no more … fuck you, fuck Trump, fuck all you fucking supporters, get the fuck out of this place.”
The blonde woman can be heard crying in the background.
Separate photos show her apparently bleeding from the ear and the knee.
