Robert Creamer, husband of Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky, is "stepping back" from the Hillary Clinton campaign after a video suggested his organization tried to instigate violence at Donald Trump rallies.
Creamer was aiding the Democratic National Convention for Clinton's presidential bid. He works for a progressive consulting firm, Democracy Partners, and is head of the group Mobilize, which contracted with the DNC.
"I am unwilling to become a distraction to the important task of electing Hilary Clinton, and defeating Donald Trump in the upcoming election," Creamer said in a statement announcing his resignation.
The edited video suggests Creamer and some of his staff hired people to incite violence at Donald Trump rallies, CNN reported.
Operative Scott Foval is shown in the video talking about inciting violence at the GOP nominee's rallies, allegedly saying, "I mean, honestly, it's not hard to get some of these a_holes to pop off," Foval allegedly says in the video. "It's a matter of showing up, to want to get into their rally, in a Planned Parenthood T-shirt. Or 'Trump is a Nazi,' you know. You can message to draw them out, and draw them out to punch you."
Foval, the national field director of Americans United for Change, has been fired by that organization, which contracted with Democracy Partners.
Creamer described the video as "hypothetical conversations" and none of the things discussed ever took place, and called Foval's comments "flat-out wrong."
"We have gone to extreme measures to ensure no violence took place at any of our (counter protest) rallies," Creamer told CNN.
Conservative activist James O'Keefe released the video through his organization Project Veritas Action. O'Keefe has been criticized before for editing footage to create false accusations about people and groups.
