As for the smirk that many have construed as taunting Phillips, Sandmann argued that it was just a smile.
A longer video that surfaced on Saturday afternoon, however, revealed that prior to encountering Phillips, the Covington students were being verbally harassed by the Black Hebrew Israelites religious organization.
Covington Catholic High School student Nicholas Sandmann did not taunt Native American activist Nathan Phillips, the teenager said during a Wednesday morning interview on NBC’s Today.
Speaking to Today‘s Savannah Guthrie, Sandmann maintained that he had every right to stand there when Phillips approached him.