What happened
Federal agents and National Guard members stepped up their public presence in Washington, D.C., Wednesday as President Donald Trump suggested that the nighttime patrols he ordered as part of a temporary federal takeover of the capital could become an extended 24/7 operation.
As D.C. residents protested against the increasingly visible takeover, the Trump administration filed felony charges against a man for allegedly throwing a wrapped Subway sandwich at a federal agent.
Who said what
Dozens of residents gathered at a 14th Street Northwest intersection last night to protest a vehicle checkpoint and urge the "fascists" stopping passing motorists to "go home" and "get off our streets." But Trump told reporters he planned to extend his federalization of the D.C. police department past the 30-day limit set in the 1973 Home Rule Act, either through Congress or unilaterally by declaring a "national emergency." Legal experts "expressed skepticism," Reuters said.
The sandwich-throwing incident, captured on video, "has become emblematic of how some Washington residents feel" about Trump's injection of federal agents, The New York Times said. Police said in court documents Wednesday that D.C. resident Sean Dunn (pictured above), 37, hit a federal agent with a "sub-style" sandwich on Sunday night, then allegedly told an arresting officer, "I did it. I threw a sandwich."
"He thought it was funny," U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said in a video posted online. "Well, he doesn't think it's funny today because we charged him with a felony: assault on a police officer."
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What next?
The crime Dunn is charged with "carries a maximum of one year in prison, or up to eight years if it involves 'physical contact,'" the Times said. That means "hoagie assault guy" could be "punished more strongly" than the Jan. 6 rioters "who beat police officers with poles and other objects and are now walking free" after being pardoned by Trump, Just Security editor Asha Rangappa said on social media.
