Watch CBS News

Ex-congressman Mark Foley sat behind Trump at rally in Florida

Mark Foley Trump rally
Ex-congressman Mark Foley sits behind Trump at rally 00:24

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Hillary Clinton isn't the only one with a controversial rally attendee this week.

As Donald Trump spoke to a crowd Wednesday night in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, reporters noticed that disgraced former Congressman Mark Foley was in attendance -- and sitting directly behind Trump.

Reporters from several outlets, including CBS News, spotted Foley during Trump's speech.

Foley, who represented a Florida district in the U.S. House, resigned from Congress in 2006 after allegations that he had sent sexually explicit e-mails to teenage boys who served as congressional pages.

Foley's appearance at a Trump rally comes just two days after Seddique Mateen, father of the Orlando shooter Omar Mateen, attended a Clinton rally in Kissimmee, Florida.

A Clinton campaign official said at the time that Mateen wasn't invited to the rally, which was open to the public, and was "unaware of his attendance until after the event."

With Foley sitting directly behind him, Trump referenced Mateen at Clinton's Florida rally--and even said that people sitting that close to the candidate "know the campaign."

"Wasn't it terrible when the father of the animal that killed the wonderful people in Orlando was sitting with a big smile on his face right behind Hillary Clinton?" he asked the crowd.

"When you get those seats, you sort of know the campaign. So when she said, 'Well, we didn't know,' he knew, they knew," Trump continued. "But how did you like that picture--him sitting, 49 people killed, other people will never, ever, ever be the same. And that guy is sitting back there, and of course he likes Hillary because Hillary won't even say the words, 'Radical Islamic terrorism.'"

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.