Trump protester and supporter embrace after rally punch

  • 16/12/2016

An elderly man who sucker-punched a protester at a Donald Trump rally in North Carolina earlier in the year has shared a heartwarming moment with the victim in court.

John McGraw got 12 months of unsupervised probation, a 30-day suspended sentence and a US$250 (NZ$355) fine for his actions - but at court on Wednesday (local time) he did not contest the charges.

Instead, the 79-year-old apologised to the man he punched in the mouth as he was being escorted out of a Trump rally on March 9, before shaking hands and hugging him.

"We are caught up in a political mess today - and you and me, we are going to heal our country," an emotional McGraw said to his 26-year-old victim, Rakeem Jones.

The pair then embraced - and afterwards Mr Jones told CBS that "it felt good to shake his hand" and to "face him" for the first time since the incident.

Newshub.