Agitator arrested on battery charge outside Trump's West Palm Beach golf course
Florida police arrested an agitator outside President Donald Trump's West Palm Beach golf course this weekend.
Police say the man, identified as Paul Messer, was engaging with anti-Trump protesters across from the golf club on Sunday when he got into a verbal dispute with another protester and struck her multiple times in the upper chest and neck with a metal flagpole, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.
The woman stumbled backward and had visible redness on the right side of her neck. Messer was taken into custody and transported to the Palm Beach County Jail on a battery charge.
The White House press pool following Trump witnessed the altercation, saying Messer was holding a pro-Trump flag during the incident.
ATTEMPTED TRUMP ASSASSIN TO LEARN SENTENCE, WITH PROSECUTORS SEEKING LIFE
"As we continue to hold across from the golf club, a small group of protesters gathered by a barricade. Some had signs that read 'F--- ICE,’ while another couple displayed pro-Trump flags. A man with a Trump flag was then arrested by a sheriff’s deputy. A small group continues to stand by the barricade with their signs," a pool report said.
The altercation came just weeks after Trump played golf with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at the Trump International Golf Club. Rounding out their foursome were college football coaching legends Urban Meyer and Nick Saban.
Trump signaled warmer relations with the Florida governor last summer, and Florida has in turn increasingly aligned itself with key Trump administration priorities.
Among those priorities is the "Make America Healthy Again" initiative launched by Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services, which DeSantis has moved to embrace. As a result, DeSantis’ state kicked off its "Healthy Florida First" initiative in January, an effort across the state to test for contaminants in food products that DeSantis said is in lockstep with the administration’s priorities.