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Man seen exhaling on women outside Trump golf club charged

The Associated Press

November 23, 2020 at 5:50AM

Supporters of President Donald Trump gather outside Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Va., while the president plays golf, on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020. (Yuri Gripas — New York Times/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

STERLING, Va. — A man seen forcefully exhaling on two women outside President Donald Trump's Virginia golf course has been charged with assault.

Raymond Deskins, 61, was charged with misdemeanor assault after a private citizen obtained a warrant through a county magistrate, the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office said Sunday. Deskin did not immediately return a request for comment.

Video widely shared on social media shows Deskins blowing air on two unidentified women after one of them asks him to get away and points out that he's not wearing a mask.

"That's assault" one of the women said afterwards.

"I breathed on you," Deskins replied.

Virginia mandates masks be worn in certain locations to stop the spread of the coronavirus, but they are not required to be worn outside.

The altercation happened Saturday outside Trump National Golf Club, where the president was playing. Protestors and supporters regularly gather outside the club's entrance when he plays.

Deskin was wearing a Trump shirt and an inflatable pool tube with Trump's likeness on it around his waist.

Several members of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors sent a letter to law enforcement authorities Sunday asking for a full investigation. The letter said the two women had been protesting the president outside the golf club.

The sheriff's office said the altercation was investigated at the scene but was not witnessed by law enforcement and the video did not capture its entirety. The sheriff's office said it advised the two parties who said they'd been assaulted that they could seek a warrant through a county magistrate.