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The American Civil Liberties Union also responded, condemning the president’s remarks.

“By encouraging police to dole out extra pain at will, the president is urging a kind of lawlessness that already imperils the health and lives of people of color at shameful rates,” Jeffery Robinson, deputy legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union and director of the ACLU’s Trone Center for Justice and Equality, said in a statement.

“Innocent until proven guilty? Our president would rather not bother with that, expanding the role of the police officer to include judge, jury, and executioner,” he said.

“This country is weary of the type of policing that Trump espouses, having seen over and over again that it only makes it harder for police to investigate and solve crime,” he said.

This isn't the first time that Trump has seemingly condoned physicality.

During a campaign stop in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on the day of the Iowa caucuses, for instance, he told audience members he would pay their legal fees if they engaged in violence against protesters.

\"If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously, OK? Just knock the hell ... I promise you I will pay for the legal fees. I promise, I promise,\" he said on Feb. 1, 2016.

At a Las Vegas rally later that month, he said security guards were too gentle with a protester. \"He's walking out with big high-fives, smiling, laughing,\" Trump said. \"I'd like to punch him in the face, I'll tell you.\"

A similar situation unfolded at a rally that month in Warren, Michigan.

\"Get him out,\" he said of a protester. \"Try not to hurt him. If you do, I'll defend you in court. Don't worry about it.\"

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