Former Sen. Al D'Amato says he's expecting armed "hooligans" to "create real trouble" at the Republican National Convention.
In an interview aired Sunday on
"The Cats Roundtable," the New York Republican echoes the fears of others,
including the FBI, about the possibility of violence at the Cleveland gathering to nominate presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.
"Some of the hooligans will be armed, and I think they will look to create real trouble there," D'Amato tells radio host John Catsimatidis.
"So I think you are going to have riotous conditions outside caused by these absolute degenerates who don't give a darn about the values of this country and are trying to rip us apart."
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson told a House committee hearing last Thursday he was particularly concerned about violence after the New Black Panthers and some pro-Trump organizations said they will carry weapons outside of the convention.
But inside, D'Amato says, the convention will be calm — and predictable.
"It’s going to go all Trump’s way," he said, dismissing the notion of a challenge to Trump — and leveling a scathing denunciation of Trump critic Mitt Romney.
"I think it’s rather pathetic for those who can’t get over their loss," he said. "The one guy, Romney, who didn’t have the cojones to run, should be ashamed of himself. He did nothing but try to scuttle Trump from the beginning. He’s like a spoiled little kid … I didn’t know he was a jealous, malevolent person underneath all that guile."
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