Trial starts for DC man charged with throwing sandwich at federal agent | Washington DC
By throwing a sandwich at a federal agent, Sean Charles Dunn became a symbol of resistance against Donald Trump’s rising law enforcement in the nation’s capital. This week, federal prosecutors are trying to convince a jury of Washington, D.C. residents that Dunn simply broke the law.
That could be tough for the government to convince in a city chafing over Trump’s federal takeover, which is entering its third month. A grand jury declined to indict Dunn on felony assault charges before the office of Jeanine Pirro, a U.S. attorney, chose to charge him with a misdemeanor.
Securing a conviction at trial could prove just as difficult for Justice Department prosecutors in Washington, where murals glorifying Dunn’s sandwich toss appeared virtually overnight.
Before jury selection began Monday, the judge presiding over Dunn’s trial seemed to recognize how unusual it was for a case like this to be heard in federal court. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee to the bench, said he expects the trial to last no more than two days “because it’s the simplest case in the world.”
A video that went viral on social media showed Dunn throwing his Subway-style sandwich at a Customs and Border Protection agent outside a nightclub on the night of August 10. The same weekend, Trump announced the deployment of hundreds of National Guard troops and federal agents to assist with police patrols in Washington.
When Dunn approached a group of CBP agents outside a club hosting a “Latin Night,” he called them “fascists” and “racists” and chanted “shame” at them. A bystander’s video showed Dunn throwing a sandwich at an officer’s chest.
“Why are you here? I don’t want you in my town!” Dunn screamed, police said.
Dunn fled but was apprehended. He was released but was re-arrested when a team of armed federal agents in riot gear burst into his home. The White House posted a highly produced “propaganda” video of the raid on its official X account, Dunn’s lawyers said. They noted that Dunn had offered to go to police before the raid.
Dunn worked as an international affairs specialist in the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice. After Dunn’s arrest, Pam Bondi, the attorney general, announced his firing in a social media post describing him as “an example of the deep state.”
Before the trial, Dunn’s lawyers urged the judge to dismiss the case because they consider it a vindictive and selective prosecution. They argued that the messages from Bondi and the White House proved that Dunn had been unfairly targeted for his political speech.
Julia Gatto, one of Dunn’s lawyers, questioned why the Trump Justice Department was pursuing Dunn after the Republican president granted clemency and ordered the dismissal of assault cases stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, mob attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“It’s an obvious answer,” Gatto said at a hearing last Thursday. “The answer is they have different policies. And it’s selective prosecution.”
Prosecutors countered that Dunn’s political expressions did not protect him from prosecution for assaulting the officer.
“The defendant is being prosecuted for the obvious reason that he was recorded throwing a sandwich at point-blank range at a federal officer,” they wrote.
Dunn was charged with assaulting, resisting, resisting, obstructing, intimidating and interfering with a federal agent. Dozens of Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol have been convicted of crimes for assaulting or interfering with police during the Jan. 6 attack. Trump pardoned or ordered charges against each of them dropped.
