WASHINGTON: Republican presidential candidate
Donald Trump seemed unable to decide if he wanted a wailing infant in his proximity at an election rally in Virginia, but finally asked for the baby to be evicted from the venue.
The initial showing of love for the baby didn't last long as Trump backtracked saying he was "only kidding".
"Don't worry about that baby, I love babies," he said amidst laughter as the infant started crying in the crowded auditorium of a high school in Ashburn, Virginia.
"I love babies. I hear that baby crying and I like -- I like it, what a baby. What a beautiful baby, don't worry. The mom's running around like -- don't worry about it. It's young and beautiful, and healthy and that's what we want," Trump said and resumed his speech on China and its currency devaluation.
But as the baby continued wailing, Trump changed his mind and asked the woman to leave.
"Actually I was only kidding...you can get the baby out of here," he said amid laughter from the audience.
"That's all right, don't worry. I think she really believed me that I love having a baby crying while I'm speaking, that's OK. People don't understand, that's OK," he said to the distressed mother.
The rally was held in a neighborhood that has quite a significant number of Indian Americans, in particular those from the IT community.
Later in the afternoon, Senator
Tim Kaine
, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, was seen cracking a joke on the incident with Trump in his home State.
"I saw that Donald Trump kicked a crying baby out of an event earlier today. So as I'm thinking about pre-K, sometimes you wonder who the baby is, right?" Kaine said.