WATCH: Conservative punched in face at Berkeley speaks out
Williams addressed questions regarding what led up to the confrontation seen on video.
Leadership Institute Field Representative Hayden Williams joined Sean Hannity Thursday to address his punch in the face at UC-Berkeley.
UPDATE: Police arrested 28-year-old Zachary Greenberg for allegedly assaulting Williams on Feb. 19.
After Campus Reform reported yesterday on an alleged assault against a conservative at the University of Berkeley-California, the victim, as labeled by the university’s own police force, joined Fox’s Sean Hannity to discuss the incident, and what led up to it.
Hayden Williams, a field representative for the Leadership Institute, the parent organization of Campus Reform, was at UC-Berkeley helping students recruit members to their Turning Point USA chapter. Their table displayed signs that read “This is MAGA Country,” and “Hate Crimes Hoaxes Hurt Real Victims,” a reference to the Empire actor Jussie Smollett case in Chicago.
Because of this recent controversy, some initially doubted the authenticity of Williams’ account. Hannity asked Williams Thursday night about what happened in the moments leading up to confrontation caught on video. Williams, however, disputes any notion that the video is out of context, as does the university’s own police report.
[RELATED: VIDEO: Conservative suffers blow to the face at Berkeley]
”A lot of people may doubt your story. What led up to it and is there any evidence that you have, eyewitnesses that will testify that you did nothing to provoke this?” Hannity asked.
Williams said that there is “absolutely” evidence as well as eyewitnesses who could testify in his favor.
”How many witnesses do you have?” Hannity asked. “When did you start filming? At what point in the encounter?”
Williams responded by saying that “as soon as the gentleman — and I use that term lightly — approached our table and began acting very erratic, I feared for my own safety, so I started to record at that moment.” Hannity then asked Williams if he tried to diffuse the situation at all.
”Walk us through the very beginning. This guy, what did he do, when did you start filming, and how many people were there with you?” he asked.
”So I had the president of the club with me there and we were talking to a potential new member when this happened. And these two people just approached our table, as I said, very erratically and started cussing at us,” Williams said. “That’s when I knew this was probably a troublesome situation. I pulled out my phone to start recording, and his friend — one of the gentlemen that approached our table — smacked my phone out of my —”
”There were other people videoing thankfully, right?” Hannity interjected.
”That’s right,” Williams said, later adding that the video below began “six, seven seconds” into the confrontation.
[RELATED: UC Berkeley employee elated by violence against conservative]
Editor’s note: The Leadership Institute owns and operates CampusReform.org.
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