Five Takeaways From the WSJ Investigation of Government Assault Claims
Category: News & Politics
Via: hallux • 8 months ago • 4 commentsBy: Brenna T. Smith, Hannah Critchfield and Brian Whitton - WSJ
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Since President Trump took office, U.S. government social-media accounts have issued more than 1,400 tweets saying federal law-enforcement officers are under attack by terrorists, rioters and agitators.
A Wall Street Journal investigation found that most people accused in these X posts were Americans—including Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both killed by federal agents in January.
Here are the key findings from the Journal investigation, which tracked U.S. citizens caught in the crosshairs of an aggressive government campaign to detain and demonize dissenters.
Citizens are targets
Over the past year, arrests of Americans on suspicion of assaulting federal officers have been tied largely to demonstrations and vehicle stops, according to a Journal review of more than 200 videos.
Most assault allegations posted on X against American protesters, which accounted for almost half of the U.S. citizens arrested, were unsubstantiated.
Federal government officials accused 32 citizens in posts on X of intentionally using their vehicles as weapons. One pleaded guilty to an assault charge, and three had their cases dismissed. None of the others identified by the Journal were charged, according to a review of court filings.
Federal agents seek more charges
The Journal analyzed Justice Department data and found that under the Trump administration, immigration law-enforcement agencies sought federal assault charges against U.S. citizens more frequently—an increase of more than 300% compared with the previous year.
Constitutional experts say aggressive policing tactics can deter people from exercising their First Amendment rights, which include the freedom to witness or protest government activities in public places.
The consequences of the government’s aggressive actions—physical intimidation, tackling, arrests and hours in custody without access to a lawyer—“amounts to going after the political opposition,” said David Bier of the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington.
The Department of Homeland Security is “taking appropriate and constitutional measures” to uphold the rule of law and protect its officers from “dangerous rioters,” a DHS spokesperson said. The First Amendment “protects speech and peaceful assembly—not rioting,” the spokesperson said.
Videos upend assault claims
As with the fatal shootings of Good and Pretti in Minneapolis, the Journal analyzed videos that cast doubt on the federal government’s claims.
One was the case of Sidney Lori Reid, a 44-year-old veterinary assistant arrested on suspicion of assaulting a federal officer in July.
When Reid saw federal agents lingering outside a Washington, D.C., jail, she began recording their activities on her phone. Phone recordings and body-camera footage submitted to court showed that agents grabbed Reid and pinned her to a wall as they escorted an immigrant to a waiting government vehicle.
The government, in a legal complaint, alleged that Reid tried to physically intervene to disrupt the operation and assaulted an officer by “forcefully” pushing their hand against a cement wall.
Three grand juries declined to indict Reid for felony assault. Prosecutors reduced the charge to a misdemeanor, which doesn’t require a grand jury. Reid was acquitted at trial.
“If I didn’t have the video, I would 100% be in jail right now,” Reid said.
Legal cases collapse
The Journal reviewed more than 100,000 posts on X from the Trump administration and found that of 279 people accused of attacking federal officers in the past year, 181 were U.S. citizens.
Close to half of the accused Americans were never charged with assault. None have been convicted at trial.
As in other federal assault cases, bystander videos as well as police-camera and surveillance footage cast doubt on agents’ claims, in some cases leading to the exoneration of citizens. Yet unlike the accusations posted on X, the outcome of those cases wasn’t mentioned on government X accounts, the Journal found.
Touching is grounds for arrest
Trump officials sounded the alarm more than a year ago.
In a February 2025 memo, Attorney General Pam Bondi directed U.S. attorneys to “aggressively” investigate those who obstruct or attack law enforcement officers.
Federal agents on the front lines in Los Angeles received a directive from then-Border Patrol commander-at-large Gregory Bovino: “Arrest as many people that touch you as you want.”
Federal prosecutors in cities with high-profile immigration operations said they have been pressured by Justice Department leaders to aggressively pursue assault charges, even in cases undermined by contradictory evidence or ones that fail to appear worthy of prosecution.
Some have quit in response. Others say the time spent on flimsy cases takes them away from prosecuting drug cases, public corruption and gun-related crimes.
Tags
Who is online
156 visitors
Ms Bondi appears to channel Lady MacBeth's:
“… unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty!”
Reminds a little of the claims that the 95% peaceful BLM George Floyd protests were nothing but violence.
Tunnel vision, with guaranteed by Vance "absolute immunity".
What could go wrong? /S
Yep. People with a badge and a gun lie every fucking day in this country.
But yeah, we’re just supposed to always believe them, and follow orders, and comply, because if you haven’t done anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about.
Complete and total horseshit.