Arrest warrants issued for presidential candidate and running mate

A North Dakota sheriff’s office has issued arrest warrants for The Green Party’s presidential candidate and her running mate, both of whom are facing charges of vandalism and trespassing at a construction site which they allegedly committed during a protest march on Tuesday.

According to the Morton County Sheriff’s Office, the Green Party’s Jill Stein was photographed spray painting privately owned construction equipment during an environmental-related protest against the building of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Stein is a medical doctor and environmental activist who was the Green Party nominee for President of the United States in the 2012 and was again nominated in 2016.

According to law enforcement officials, she was an active part of Tuesday’s protest march involving about 200 people who demonstrated at the construction site. Reports indicate that two of the protesters tied themselves to bulldozers while others vandalized construction equipment at the worksite.

There were no immediate arrests during Tuesday’s actions when 25 law enforcement officers responded to the protest. None of the Dakota Access Pipeline work force were at the site at the time of the protest. Officers at the scene claims they witnessed a number of protesters on horseback, while many of them wore masks and some carried axes and wore protective eyewear.

Although no one was detained by law enforcement on Tuesday, the county prosecutor issued arrest warrants for both Jill Stein and her running mate, Ajamu Baraka, on Wednesday afternoon. The charges are listed as criminal trespass and criminal mischief, both misdemeanors.

Stein and Baraka allegedly spray painted “I approve this message” and “We need decolonization” on construction equipment.

The Morton County Sheriff’s Department announced on its Facebook page that private security officers were assaulted and two guard dogs injured on Saturday afternoon when they were confronted by protesters who “broke down a wire fence and stampeded into the construction area, which is on private property.” Stein and her running mate were not involved in that attack.

According to the last national presidential poll, Stein is currently ranked behind the other three presidential candidates.

Stein who is 66-years-old, graduated from Harvard Medical School. Besides her practice and teaching at Harvard, Ms. Stein was the co-founder of Massachusetts Coalition for Healthy Communities.

“I entered politics as a physician some twenty years ago. I saw how our broken health care system was desperately failing the people who most needed it. As a mother, I was especially concerned about the new, preventable disease epidemics descending on our children, including obesity, diabetes, asthma, and cancer. I insisted that our government take the necessary steps to protect our children,” she’s quoted as saying by Vote Smart.