The St. Louis couple at the center of a firestorm over their armed confrontation with a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters will join an official Trump campaign event on Friday night.
Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who were thrust into the national spotlight after video was captured of them holding firearms to protect their home from protesters on their property, are among the featured guests on the campaign's Friday night livestream. The campaign says the discussion, hosted by former Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle, will focus on the Second Amendment and what it means for America.
The event comes on the heels of Trump's endorsement from the National Rifle Association. The group praised the president in an endorsement letter, saying he had "done more than any president to protect the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms" during his first term. The NRA spent more than $30 million in support of his 2016 victory and is expected to spend heavily for his reelection.
The McCloskeys have been in the middle of a controversy since video of their altercation with protesters went viral in June. As the crowd entered the McCloskeys' property through a gate marked "private"—which was destroyed during the incident—the couple pointed firearms at some members of the crowd and yelled at them to leave.
Joel Schwartz, who represents the McCloskeys, told the Free Beacon on Tuesday police had seized the couple's guns. He expects charges to be filed against them soon. Schwartz added, however, that he is confident the couple's actions were legal under Missouri's defense of property law.
"People violently burst down the gate onto their private property—they had every right to defend themselves to a means necessary under the circumstances," Schwartz said. "And that's what they did."
The campaign said it expects the event to draw more than 1 million views, noting that its streaming campaign events had reached more than 1.1 billion video views since April. In addition to the McCloskeys, the event will feature Donald Trump Jr., Rep. Matt Gaetz (R., Fla.), and Utah's Republican attorney general Sean Reyes.