Man who traveled to Minneapolis to 'start a riot' had expressed 'enthusiasm' for Trump: report

A man who has been accused of travelling from central Illinois to Minneapolis to start riots had at one time expressed "enthusiasm" for President Donald Trump.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports that 28-year-old Matthew Lee Rupert was accused this week of going to Minneapolis and handing out explosives that he encouraged others to throw at the police.

"They got SWAT trucks up there... I’ve got some bombs if some of you all want to throw them back," Rupert said in a video posted on his own Facebook page late last week.

A Pioneer Press review of Rupert's social media postings revealed that the alleged perpetrator "expresses enthusiasm for President Donald Trump in several posts from 2017 and 2016," although some of his views appear to be left wing and he isn't a dedicated Trump supporter.

Rupert expressed sympathy for George Floyd in the wake of his death last week, as well as an antipathy toward police officers.

"Cops kill everyday and everyone wants to just now stand," he wrote in one recent post. "I been a freedom fighter my whole life and I’ll live behind my constitutional rights!!! I love this country but the people u pay to harass us I hate to the death of me."