'Socialist' claims he has Ebola, licks conservatives at Clinton speech

A self-described progressive socialist in Michigan attacked a group of conservative students outside of a Hillary Clinton speaking engagement by attempting to lick them while yelling that he has Ebola.

Clinton spoke Thursday afternoon at a rally for U.S. Rep. Gary Peters and former U.S. Rep. Mark Schauer, Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate and governor, respectively, at Oakland University.

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A group of around 25 conservative students protested the event with campus police and the Secret Service quarantining the students to an area far away from the line of people to get into the event hall. Larry Mitchell, a 63-year-old member of the St. Clair Shores Democratic Club, walked across the street to the group of students.

“I just came from Texas, I have Ebola, and now I’m going to give it to you,” Mitchell can be heard saying at the 2:36 mark in an exclusive video obtained by Campus Reform.

WATCH: Mitchell confronts the conservative students.

According to witnesses, Mitchell licked his hand and tried to wipe his saliva off on the students.

Mitchell called the students “fascists” and blamed their political beliefs for the spread of Ebola.

“Without a public health system, we are going to have the spread of Ebola,” Mitchell told them. “Libertarians don’t want a public health system so you’re a fascist.”

Mitchell admitted to confronting the protesters, but told Campus Reform that he does not in fact have Ebola.

“Libertarians are a bunch of Republicans who just want to smoke pot and get laid,” Mitchell said in an interview. “They don’t even count for much as far as I’m concerned with because they’re not Americans. They don’t believe in America. They believe in themselves.”

Mitchell admitted to going over to the group of students “because they’re idiots,” but told Campus Reform that he does not in fact have Ebola.

“But they’re easily scared and intimidated and when you have bullies like that, you bully them back, and that’s when they go away, and that’s what they did, they went away,” he said.

In the video, it’s Mitchell who is seen walking away from the group of students back to the line of people waiting to get into the rally.

Mitchell told Campus Reform that he was at the rally to support Peters and Schauer, but “isn’t a big fan of Hillary,” whom he deemed a “corporatist.”

David Rowe, a senior political science student at Oakland who was menaced by Mitchell, told Campus Reform that he filed charges with Oakland’s campus police. He alleges that Mitchell lunged at him and grabbed his throat as well as licked his hand.

“This is the first time I’ve ever gotten attacked at a protest,” Rowe, who organized Thursday’s protest, told Campus Reform in an interview. “I’ve been yelled at before. I’ve been doing protests for quite some time. I’ve always gone to different protests and organized different things, but I’ve never gotten attacked like that.”

Oakland campus police confirmed to Campus Reform that the incident was reported but refused to make the report available.

Oakland’s Chief of Police Gordon said the investigation was ongoing and said it would be “inappropriate” to comment to Campus Reform.

Andrew Baker, a senior economics and finance major, said he was disappointed in where campus police and the Secret Service made the conservative students set up.

“There was a line of probably 100 or so students waiting to get in to go see Hillary,” Baker said in an interview with Campus Reform. “We were not allowed anywhere near those students at all.”

Baker said the campus police kept the students “far enough away that it would be really hard to read anything we put up.”

“There was much more of a lack of control on the side of the Hillary supporters than there was on our side,” Baker said. “I mean, we were very respectful and everything we did was in line generally with what they asked us to do. I thought it was very unfair about how the Hillary supporters acted towards us—much more derogatory, much more hostile towards us than we were towards them.”

Thursday’s protest included students involved in College Republicans, Students for Life, and Young Americans for Liberty. However, the protest was not strictly sponsored by either group.

Oakland University declined Campus Reform’s request for comment.

Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @K_Schallhorn