Green Party nominee Jill Stein charged with trespassing and mischief following North Dakota protest

A warrant was issued Wednesday in North Dakota for the arrest of Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein, who attended a protest Tuesday against the Dakota Access pipeline and is accused of spray-painting on a bulldozer.

The Standing Rock Sioux tribe is working to stop the construction of part of the pipeline that leaders say could possibly pollute water and violates sacred grounds, and Stein was invited on Tuesday to the protest site near their reservation. Stein's spokeswoman, Meleiza Figueroa, told The Associated Press Stein sprayed "I approve this message" in red paint on a bulldozer's blade, and would not say if Stein plans on turning herself in. Stein and her running mate, Ajamu Baraka, have been charged in Morton County with misdemeanor counts of criminal trespass and criminal charges (court documents show Baraka painted "decolonization" on a piece of construction equipment).

Before the charges were filed on Wednesday, Stein released a statement saying she hopes authorities in North Dakota "press charges against the real vandalism taking place at the Standing Rock Sioux reservation: the bulldozing of sacred burial sites and the unleashing of vicious attack dogs."

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