Police say Trump campaign requested black students be removed from Georgia rally

Law enforcement sources are saying a group of black students who were forcibly removed from a Donald Trump appearance at a Georgia college Monday were ejected from the event at the behest of the Trump campaign.

MSNBC’s All In With Chris Hayes reports the chief of the Valdosta Police Department and the Lowndes County Sheriff both said the Trump campaign specifically requested the Valdosta State University students be removed prior to the start of a rally on the school’s campus.

The Trump campaign previously denied it had requested the students’ removal and continued to deny it in a statement to All In Thursday.

“The campaign had no knowledge of this incident until after reading these false reports,” the statement to All In reads.

This account varies slightly from a Tuesday Facebook post by chief of police Brian Childress that does not mention any requests by the Trump campaign. In the post, Childress blames the students’ for their ejection, accusing them of being disruptive.

“But to suggest that this incident was racially motivated is unfair and simply not factual,” Childress wrote. “If these students had not had a previous agenda to be disruptive, this incident would not have happened.”

In an essay describing the incident, one of the students said their group of about 40-50 Valdosta State University had acquired tickets to the event online and were peacefully waiting for the event to start when police came and forced them to leave.