Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett said Tuesday that Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver of New Jersey could be convicted on assault charges based on available bodycam footage.
Interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba announced the charges against McIver for her role in a May 9 altercation outside an ICE facility in Newark, New Jersey. The incident, which also involved Democratic Mayor Ras Baraka and Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman and Rob Menendez Jr., led to Baraka’s arrest.
Jarrett noted that McIver wouldn’t need to physically strike an ICE agent to be found guilty of assault.
“I want to take her being a congresswoman off the table and just the laws that were broken here and what they are saying that they are going to charge her with,” “Fox and Friends” co-host Lawrence Jones said.
“It’s 18 U.S. Code 111(a)(1): assaulting and impeding certain officers and employees. That’s forcefully assault, resist, oppose, impede. Intimidate or interferes with. Does she meet that?” he asked.
“Well, the feds say it does. The body cam footage that they have, that others haven’t seen, they say shows Re. McIver committing assault under the statute. We have all seen some of the other video. There is a lot of shoving going on,” Jarrett responded.
“But, Lawrence, understand that assault doesn’t exclusively require physical contact. It can include intimidation or threats that create a reasonable apprehension of harm to a law enforcement officer. So, you know, her words are equally as important as her physical acts. And, of course, she is presumed innocent. She will get her day in court,” Jarrett continued.
After taking office on January 20, President Donald Trump signed a series of executive orders aimed at combating illegal immigration, including the designation of Mexican drug cartels, the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua (TdA), and the El Salvadoran gang MS-13 as foreign terrorist organizations.
The Fox legal analyst said McIver’s defense—that she was attempting to conduct oversight—would not hold up in light of the charges against her.
“But if her defense is, as she now claims, that, ‘Oh, I was just exercising legislative oversight,’ that’s not going to work because lofty status as a member of Congress confers no special exemption for criminal acts,” Jarrett said.
“You know, she and her fellow Democrats could have made an appointment to inspect the detention facility. That’s the normal, orderly process,” he added.
“But instead, Homeland Security says they stormed through a gate, tried to get past security,” Jarrett continued. “That’s when the melee occurred, as officers stopped them. Democrats spent the last four years telling us, Lawrence, that nobody is above the law. Well, Rep. McIver may find out that they were right about that.”
