Blows Are Traded at Katie Porter Townhall After Republican Candidate Shows Up With Friends, Cops Arrest 1 While Breaking Up Fracas
At an outdoor town hall event for Democrat Katie Porter in California, a small but loud group of dissenters caused a disturbance that led to blows and police this weekend.
The very small group of hecklers, some carrying Trump flags, were there with Nick Taurus, an activist and “American nationalist” running as a Republican for the seat currently held by Rep. Porter.
Taurus put out a call in an Instagram post ahead of the town hall to join with him in attending to “voice our displeasure,” under the headline “CONFRONT KATIE PORTER!”
At the town hall, they could be heard calling Porter a “carpetbagger” and yelling out other commentary as she spoke, according to reports. It was then that “a melee broke out” according to the LA Times.
The fracas occurred shortly after Porter began speaking to a crowd of a few hundred people at Mike Ward Community Park in Irvine. It was her first in-person town hall since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The reporter, Seema Mehta, was also tweeting as it happened.
Scuffle breaks out and punches thrown at Porter town hall. pic.twitter.com/ctxhCn8ESI
— Seema (@LATSeema) July 11, 2021
Man in the suit is running against Porter and is leading a chant of “America First! America first!” and asking random people in the crowd if they are from America. pic.twitter.com/TzOq2ZKArc
— Seema (@LATSeema) July 11, 2021
In her article, Mehta adds that some of the Porter supporters confronted Taurus’ group, “resulting in punches being thrown and men falling to the ground.” Photos of some that are included with her article.
Irvine Police Officers intervened, and one Porter supporter was arrested but later released. Mehta notes that officers took a report of “assault and battery.”
Taurus went back to Instagram and posted video that seems to be from someone he was there with. In it, you can hear him shouting “police, police” as the disruptors pointed to an event attendee. The video does not show the part that resulted in someone on the ground with another person sitting on top of them, as depicted in the LATimes photos.
View this post on Instagram
Taurus claimed in one of his posts that “most” of his group did register in advance for the town hall “as requested,” and complains that they were “accosted by rabid leftists.”
On social media, people were quick to point out that Taurus has public past prior to this incident.
nick taurus, house gop candidate
– says derek chauvin “did nothing wrong”
– says going to nfl games is “backdoor reparations”
– calls for release of everyone arrested for 1/6
– says the vaccine has killed more ppl than the iraq warhttps://t.co/NgfU0qVMnn— Oliver Willis (@owillis) July 12, 2021
Fight breaks out in Irvine at Katie Porter’s town hall. The man in the suit with the blue “America First” hat is Nicholas A. Taurus of Laguna Hills.
Nick Taurus has a history of violent attacks on women and the eldery, including Yorba Linda on 26-Sep and Newport Beach on 18-Oct. https://t.co/vMxSp0ns4q pic.twitter.com/ZyuhOlIWY6
— Chad Loder (@chadloder) July 11, 2021
“It is disappointing that a small but vocal group of attendees, who advertised a ‘confrontation rally,’ created unsafe conditions at a planned family-friendly event,” Rep. Katie Porter said in a statement on the incident. “While I absolutely respect their right to disagree, their disturbance disrespected all the families who attended and were ready to engage in a thoughtful, civil and safe way.”
On Instagram, Nick Taurus bragged that “the Taurus Campaign is ready to wage war on the globalists” in a post about the event.
