A conservative activist whose brutal pummeling at Cal-Berkeley was caught on cell phone video told Sean Hannity Thursday he has no doubt that it was his political beliefs that prompted the attack.
Hayden Williams said Tuesday's violent attack at the hands of an unidentified suspect on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley started when the assailant ironically accused him of promoting aggression.
“This person claimed we were promoting violence on campus and proceeded to take his aggression out on us,” Williams told Hannity.
Williams sported a black eye while appearing on the show, the result of being violently punched in the face while helping conservative group Turning Point USA recruit members.
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Although Williams was helping Turning Point USA he is not a member. He is a field representative for the Leadership Institute, a Virginia-based organization that provides training for conservative activists.
According to Williams, some UC-Berkeley students took offense to a sign that Turning Point displayed at its recruitment table that read, “Hate Crime Hoaxes Hurt Real Victims.” Williams said the person who struck him claimed that Williams and Turning Point USA were promoting violence on campus.
The sign referenced the case of “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett, who is accused of staging an attack against himself and claiming that white male supporters of President Trump committed the alleged crime.
The group in Berkeley also had a sign that read “This is MAGA Country.”
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Williams says he “absolutely” has evidence and eyewitnesses that he did not provoke the alleged attacker. Williams began to record the confrontation but says the alleged attacker knocked his phone from his hand. However, a bystander recorded video of the incident.
The man in the video can be heard shouting profanities at Williams and at one point threatens to shoot him.
“I feared for my own safety so I started to record at that moment,” Williams told Hannity.
“That shot was a cheap shot, especially in the end,” Hannity told Williams.
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Police are searching for the man seen assaulting Williams in the video, and the university has condemned the violent act.
“This is not new for UC-Berkeley. This is a school that has been burnt down almost, because they don’t like the conservative point of view on the college campus,” Fox News contributor and Campus Reform editor-in-chief Lawrence Jones told Hannity.
Campus Reform is operated by the Leadership Institute.
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