Prosecutors fail to indict sandwich thrower in Trump's Washington public safety operation

https://apnews.com/article/washington-sandwich-thrower-indictment-trump-5d6ca5e2834eb0bb7ebe28a5ad188101

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal prosecutors have failed to obtain a felony indictment against a man who was seen on camera hurling a sandwich at a federal law enforcement official in the nation’s capital, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

Sean Charles Dunn was arrested on an assault charge after he threw a sub-style sandwich at a Customs and Border Protection agent. A video of the incident went viral, and shortly after he was fired from the Justice Department, where he worked as an international affairs specialist in the department’s criminal division.

The case is one of the examples of the legal pushback to President Donald Trump’s law enforcement surge in Washington that has led to more than 1,000 arrests. It is highly unusual for grand jurors to refuse to return an indictment, and it was once said that prosecutors could persuade a grand jury to “indict a ham sandwich.”

595 points · 101 comments · view on lemmy.world

101 Comments

Zaktor@sopuli.xyz · 150 pts · 363d (3 replies)

"public safety operation"

Journalists are going to sanitize their own executions. Wish we had a real Fourth Estate that would challenge political branding rather than stenograph it.

griff@lemmings.world · 24 pts · 363d

special public safety operation!

Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip · 21 pts · 362d

Reuters just did that.

IDF bombed a reuters journalist, but they reported what IDF said as the headline, claiming their target was a Hamas camera... It was their camera.

prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 14 pts · 362d

Journalists are going to sanitize their own executions.

Already happening in Gaza

chiliedogg@lemmy.world · 86 pts · 363d (10 replies)

This is why one of their major targets is due process.

jonne@infosec.pub · 57 pts · 363d (9 replies)

Fucking maddening how so many Latinos voted for Trump because "they got in the right way", not realising that they'd end up getting randomly stopped and deported "because they fit the profile".

It never pays to throw in your lot with white supremicists, they'll always turn on you.

Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world · 26 pts · 363d (6 replies)

I mean.....I don't think you can say they'll turn on you. That implies they supported you at one point.

White supremicists have ALWAYS been against you, if you're not also white, male, and a white supremicist.

Just because you support them, does not mean they support you. To modify a George Carlin quote:

"It's a big club, and you ain't in it don't want to be in it."

jonne@infosec.pub · 16 pts · 363d (2 replies)

They'll make temporary alliances if it furthers their goals. That's why they like Israel while they're actually antisemites, because that way you can go after Muslims more easily.

A big part of it is obviously the dog shit messaging from the Democrats. They don't want to be seen as critical of the police, so I haven't seen anyone mention the reality of racist cops conducting traffic stops based on racial profiling leading to the current situation, and the assumption they had of Latinos being one singular voting block that is always in favour of open borders, instead of a whole bunch of different groups from different countries with an immigration background that ranges from recent arrivals to people that have lived in the same place for centuries and have actually had the US illegally annex them.

grue@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 363d (1 reply)

They'll make temporary alliances if it furthers their goals. That's why they like Israel while they're actually antisemites, because that way you can go after Muslims more easily.

They like Israel because Revelations says the Jews returning to the Holy Land is a precondition for Armageddon and they think they're gonna get Raptured. It's literally a delusional death cult.

jonne@infosec.pub · 7 pts · 363d

That's only specific to evangelicals, neo-nazis don't believe that shit. They like Israel because:

  • when they finally kick out the Jews, there's a country they can send them to (in fact, the reason for the holocaust was that the Nazis didn't have anywhere to send the Jews to, nobody wanted to take them)
  • Israel itself is a supremacist state, and they're happy to have a country that legitimises the 'one people, one country' ideology they support
  • if all the Jews are in Israel, they're all in one convenient place when you finally want to get rid of them all
PattyMcB@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 363d (1 reply)

Oh, they'll turn on you if you're white, male, and a former wow supremacist, too

Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 362d
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Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 362d

the right wing hispanics think they are white, simply because they share european roots.

SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 362d

Counterpoint: fuck them and their ignorance?

Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 0 pts · 362d

most of the latinos that came over were originally rich people that were pissed when the thier countries "siezed thier lands , or nationalized thier properties". florida and texas is probably the main places they come when they land in america, often helped by right wing churches to house them. because most of them are catholic, so the churches have an easier time to convince them to vote against the "devil" and communism.

Archangel1313@lemmy.ca · 82 pts · 363d (4 replies)

Everyone finishes watching the video.

Prosecutor: So, you can clearly see the assault take place. Does everyone agree?

Jurors: I didn't see anything. Did you guys see anything? Nope. Not a thing. Who wants a sandwich?

PattyMcB@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 363d (2 replies)

I'd like a sandwich, but I didn't see any laws broken

Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 363d

All I saw was a hero.

bacon_pdp@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 363d
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Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 5 pts · 363d

he was 'eating the sandwich'.

SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 66 pts · 363d (5 replies)

This just in: Grand Jury fails to indict a ham sandwich.

apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world · 38 pts · 363d (2 replies)

They didn't fail. They did their job.

SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 23 pts · 363d (1 reply)

Agreed, they did to their jobs, it's just a joke on the old saying that "a Grand Jury could indict a ham sandwich."

grue@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 363d

Ham sandwich ✔
Sub sandwich ✖

We need more data to determine exactly which kinds of sandwiches are indictable. Throw more!

azimir@lemmy.ml · 5 pts · 362d

It was a salami sandwich, so it's a case of misidentification.

johnny_deadeyes@slrpnk.net · 4 pts · 363d
ouRKaoS@lemmy.today · 44 pts · 362d (5 replies)

shortly after he was fired from the Justice Department, where he worked as an international affairs specialist in the department’s criminal division

The cop, who investigates cops, was so pissed off that he just threw the first thing he could get a hold of...

I can't even come up with a proper analogy for how far off the rails this is.

prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 23 pts · 362d

It's good to know there might be some people like that still in there...

If you've seen the video, you'd see that this man was pissed. Full of righteous anger... And everyone else on the street, including the people filming, just thought it was funny. Just fucking clueless.

the_crotch@sh.itjust.works · 19 pts · 362d (3 replies)

The cop, who investigates cops

That's internal affairs. Your quote says international affairs.

ouRKaoS@lemmy.today · 7 pts · 362d (1 reply)

Whoops... You're right.

I'm using the fact that I've been awake for 20 hours as an excuse for my lack of reading abilities.

I shall leave my mistake there to remind me to go to sleep. (After Doom scrolling for a few hours...)

the_crotch@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 362d

Easy mistake to make, even with a full night's sleep

Godric@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 362d

Bro hahahahahaha

Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de · 39 pts · 362d (5 replies)

Last time I reacted to this Pirro quote by saying it was indeed very funny:

“He thought it was funny,” Ms. Pirro said of the defendant in a video posted online. “Well, he doesn’t think it’s funny today, because we charged with him with a felony.”

I just want to say, it has gone up a level to "hilarious" now that they can't even get a grand jury on their side

Alaik@lemmy.zip · 13 pts · 362d (4 replies)

And there's that saying that a grand jury will indict a ham sandwich.... oh the irony.

jacksilver@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 362d (1 reply)

That was their mistake, they should have charged the sandwich.

Fedizen@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 362d

Tbh, like that probably was the error here from Bondi's team

BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 362d

The Grand Jury were vegans.

Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 362d

it might drive jeanine to drink again.

ayyy@sh.itjust.works · 35 pts · 363d (1 reply)

Fuck AP for calling this a “public safety operation”. That is absolutely not a neutral way to report this. Fascist loving bootlickers. AP is a right wing rag.

Corelli_III@midwest.social · 4 pts · 362d

they've been pushing very hard for fascism lately, i can't stand the AP

zbyte64@awful.systems · 33 pts · 363d

Bwahahaha. Did the officer even say thank you for the sandwich?

phutatorius@lemmy.zip · 30 pts · 363d

"Public safety operation."

Way to buy into the bullshit, there, AP.

hohoho@lemmy.world · 26 pts · 363d (10 replies)

So is the sandwich okay?

Bonesince1997@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 363d (1 reply)

It was long, but the meating went well.

PattyMcB@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 363d

HA!

FerretyFever0@fedia.io · 6 pts · 363d (5 replies)

No, of course it's not. It got on the ground. The story is funny, but it still annoys me a little, man wasted a perfectly good sandwich :(

griff@lemmings.world · 5 pts · 363d

government wasted the expense of court time

grue@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 363d (2 replies)

a perfectly good sandwich

It was from Subway, though.

FerretyFever0@fedia.io · 2 pts · 362d

Ughhh, I change my mind. Throw the pedo sandwiches to your heart's content. Unless you have to buy them. But then you have to waste actually good sandwiches...

aeternum@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 362d
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Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 363d

Story of Arch Duke Frans Ferdinand's life.

P00ptart@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 363d (1 reply)

It was shot 36 times from close range and sent to El Salvador.

Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 363d

For a-salt and buttery.

magnetosphere@fedia.io · 26 pts · 363d

Prosecutors fail to indict sandwich thrower in Trump's Washington public safety operation

Besides the good news in the story, can we just take a moment to appreciate the absurdity of the title itself? I love it

axus@lemmy.ca · 25 pts · 363d (2 replies)

Mild doxx, I've served on a DC Grand Jury before. You're commuting to the courthouse for 3 weeks minimum, though only 3 days a week. Most of the people are not getting compensated from their job to be there, just some money for the Metro.

The standard of evidence to indict is much lower, basically "it's believable that the accused could be guilty of the charges". Caught on camera is quite believable, the key here is "the charges". If the charges don't fit the crime, a jury that's paying attention wouldn't indict . I'm 80% sure indictment is a majority vote, didn't have to be unanimous.

Generally the prosecution is presenting evidence and calling law enforcement officers to testify, the defendant sending a lawyer is optional (expensive). You get a mostly one-sided argument, but these are all people who live in DC; some well off but most kinda poor. It's DC so both categories do not like Trump. If they believe somebody is committing crimes in DC they'll happily indict; but most cases indict, it feels good to cancel the case when someone doesn't deserve it.

prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 6 pts · 362d

This dude, himself, worked at the Justice Department. I'm sure he was able to get some very good representation.

Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 4 pts · 363d

i have heard serving on a grand jury is painful, because its such a long lenght of time, thats why people try to avoid it all cost.

neuracnu@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 23 pts · 363d (2 replies)

This is all hilarious of course, but that sandwich thrower would probably be dead if he wasn’t white.

FerretyFever0@fedia.io · 11 pts · 363d (1 reply)

You're right for now. I think they'll stop caring by Christmas, as long as they oppose the administration, they're a threat.

PattyMcB@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 363d

"We"

That includes a lot of us here

Deflated0ne@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 362d

Good.

RegularJoe@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 363d

Federal Prosecutors used Felony Indictment against sandwich tosser.

It's not very effective...

MehBlah@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 362d

Its almost as if the majority of us have decided the current trumpism is wrong. Almost.

pelespirit@sh.itjust.works · 16 pts · 363d (5 replies)

We need to start doing a trump hand check. Well maybe, it'll probably just give us too much hope.

On Tuesday, YouTuber Keith Edwards — a former staffer for the anti-Trump Lincoln Project — posted a side-by-side comparison of Trump’s hand during a Monday event and the hand of the late Queen Elizabeth II during an audience with then-prime minister Liz Truss.

Edwards noted that the photograph of the late Queen with Truss was taken just two days before she passed, ending more than 70 years on the British throne.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/gavin-newsom-trump-hand-bruise-b2815067.html

treadful@lemmy.zip · 18 pts · 363d

You're playing with my emotions.

Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 363d (3 replies)

Then you get JD Vance, who's even more in the pocket of right-wing think tanks and billionaires. If there's a Vance presidency, It'll pretty much be run by people like Thiel, Yarvin and Ellison.

Until congress fixes the damage done by Citizens United, everything else is just going to be a bandage. Maybe if the FPTP voting system and the electoral college go away, but that's even harder to do. I don't think America needs a good or strong president. It needs congress to do its job by reigning in the two other branches that have gone off the rails, but it's also controlled by openly corrupt right-wing representatives.

yermaw@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 362d (2 replies)

Could get weird. I doubt he'll have nearly as much public support. I think the MAGA crowd are like a cult with a Great Leader. If anyone else tries half the shit Big D pulls they wouldn't get away with it.

tomenzgg@midwest.social · 3 pts · 362d

You're not wrong but that also means he could ride off of, "Help me complete Trump's legacy," for a bit and he's backed by Thiel. That may be all the time they need to move quickly.

Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 362d

I believe that's an accurate assessment.

heyWhatsay@slrpnk.net · 15 pts · 363d (1 reply)

May the sandwich of justice strike again!

Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 363d

Subway...Subhow...

mkwt@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 363d

In semi-related news, the DC spitter had charges reduced to misdemeanors after 3 different grand juries returned no true bill. In federal court, there is a 30 day deadline after arrest to secure an indictment or your felony charges get dismissed.

Smeagol666@crazypeople.online · 14 pts · 362d (9 replies)

He's being charged with Assault With a Deli Weapon.

Credit: Jimmy Dore

HugeNerd@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 362d (5 replies)

Which he stole from some random news anchor... Dore hasn't been funny or relevant in almost a decade now.

OhStopYellingAtMe@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 362d (1 reply)

He stole the sandwich from a news anchor?

HugeNerd@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 362d

Who's on first...

Smeagol666@crazypeople.online · -2 pts · 362d (2 replies)

1.6 million followers on Youtube seems relevant to me, you shitlib bundle of twigs.

hotdogcharmer@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 362d (1 reply)

Wow very clever way to get around calling someone a slur genius

Smeagol666@crazypeople.online · 1 pts · 361d

Thanks hotdogcharmer, you little hot dog charmer!

Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 362d (1 reply)

if it was a stale baguette french, it can do some real damage.

Smeagol666@crazypeople.online · 1 pts · 361d

It was Subway, so technically it was cake by European standards.

Tempus_Fugit@midwest.social · 1 pts · 362d

Jimmy Dore is still alive? Damn...

Gates9@sh.itjust.works · 11 pts · 363d

Lotta great sub sandwich places in Chicago

theunknownmuncher@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 363d

The grand jury 🥲

yesman@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 363d (3 replies)

This is going to be framed as liberal juries nullifying just to be mean to poor old President Trump.

Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 363d

You know it! Just wait until SCOTUS makes another special ruling that doesn't count as precedent in the future so their favorite party isn't held to the same standard.

Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 362d

if they know anything about grand jury, they are just there to whether to indict the person, not even an actual jury, its a "mock jury"

prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 362d

Who cares

HulkSmashBurgers@reddthat.com · 7 pts · 362d (2 replies)

Suck the footlong fascists.

SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 362d (1 reply)

The new US foot is now 2.5".

Mertn33@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 362d

To fit the leaders penis

bacon_pdp@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 363d
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RinseChessBacked@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 363d (1 reply)

I wish someone would throw a sandwich at me assault me with a sandwich. I'm hungry.

Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 363d

One man's battery is another man's gift.

desmosthenes@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 362d (4 replies)

8 years for spitting on a fed?!

ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one · 6 pts · 362d (3 replies)

The lengthy prison sentence is to send a message to the populace.

desmosthenes@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 362d (2 replies)

that’s quite too strong a message lol

ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one · 5 pts · 362d (1 reply)

It is however Jeanine "I scream like a banshee" Pirro wants people to know if you do anything the regime doesn't like you are going to jail for a long time.

Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 362d

Jeanine

jeanine pierro, should just go back to drinking. or she is drunk? or she become so tolerant like hesgeth she needs alot to get drunk.

Cocopanda@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 362d

Well. I wouldn’t expect much from career alcoholics.

wulrus@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 362d (3 replies)

For some reason I thought that a sandwich thrower is a device, like a sandwich maker.

Deflated0ne@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 362d (1 reply)

Hoagie Cannon

MehBlah@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 362d
KingPorkChop@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 362d

We can make one. Like one of those t-shirt canons.

Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 362d

on the juryduty sub, some of the comments were circlejerking "you should be grateufl to serve on the jury to avoid this"

teft@piefed.social · 0 pts · 363d
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