Vernon Jones, Georgia Democrat who backed Trump, escorted through angry crowd outside White House
Mob hurled ugly racial slurs at the Black lawmaker
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An angry crowd surrounded and yelled at Georgia state Rep. Vernon Jones Thursday night as the Democrat was leaving President Trump's Republican National Convention (RNC) event at the White House, as happened with several other people in the area, including Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.
Jones' vocal support for Trump has vaulted him into the national spotlight, landing him a speaker spot at the RNC on Monday night. There, Jones had accused fellow Democrats of not wanting "Black people to leave their mental plantation" and of "pandering" to the Black community.
As Jones left the White House on Monday, several social media videos showed a group of Metro Police Department (MPD) officers surrounding Jones and using their bicycles as barriers between him and the angry group of people who had surrounded him. One video showed protesters specifically calling Jones a "disgrace" and the ugly racial slur "house n-----."
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"What it showed to me is that Black lives don't matter because I am a Black person, I am a black life, so the hypocrisy that Black Lives Matter showed me right there, and verified and validated what I'd already been saying, is that Black lives don't matter," to the people claiming the Black Lives Matter mantle," Jones told Fox News.
SEN. RAND PAUL THANKS DC COPS FOR SAVING HIM FROM 'CRAZED MOB' AFTER RNC
A separate video shot by the Washington Post showed a more tame moment of the confrontation, where members of the crowd were still heckling Jones but not in physical confrontations with police as several other videos showed.
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Police, through much of the confrontation, shouted at members of the crowd to "move back" and were shown being shoved by crowd members and shoving back.
"Last night’s mayhem, yet to be condemned by Joe Biden and DC Mayor Bowser, was exactly what President Trump was warning about in his acceptance speech," Ken Farnaso, the Trump campaign deputy national press secretary, told Fox News.
Both Biden and Bowser have condemned the violence and threatening behavior of crowds across the country this week but have not specifically addressed the incidents outside the White House in the approximately 12 hours since they happened.
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Farnaso added: "Democrat-run cities have lost control of their streets and their policies endanger everyday Americans. Make no mistake, you won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America."
Jones is a highly controversial figure whose liberal credentials have been questioned by fellow Democrats in recent weeks. He voted for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004 and had images of Robert E. Lee, a general for the Confederacy, in his office, the Savanah Morning News reported.
Paul, who was in the middle of an even larger crowd as he left the White House Thursday, condemned the crowd that had chased him and shoved officers, while thanking the MPD.
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"Just got attacked by an angry mob of over 100, one block away from the White House," Paul said. "Thank you to @DCPoliceDept for literally saving our lives from a crazed mob."
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The senator and his wife didn't appear to be injured. Jones also apparently made it back to his hotel safely. Jones' legislative office did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.
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The ugly confrontations between angry crowds and RNC attendees came as liberal pundits worried the looting and violence could be helping the Trump campaign. Biden himself said on MSNBC Thursday that Trump was "rooting for more violence, not less" and condemned the violence after the Democratic National Convention last week largely glossed over the issue.