A day after violent protests prompted Donald Trump to cancel a rally, the Republican presidential front-runner blamed the activist group MoveOn.Org and supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders for the chaos, while defending his own “harassed” supporters.

“When they have organized, professionally staged wise-guys -- we’ve got to fight back. We’ve got to fight back,” Trump said at an event in Dayton, Ohio, adding that it’s Sanders, vying for the Democratic nomination, who should urge supporters to stop protesting. “With Bernie, he should really get up and say to his people, ‘Stop. Stop.’ Not me.”

“As is the case virtually every day, Donald Trump is showing the American people that he is a pathological liar,” Sanders said in an e-mailed response. “Obviously, while I appreciate that we had supporters at Trump’s rally in Chicago, our campaign did not organize the protests.”