When Harmeet Met the Ostroushkos

These days, to paraphrase Mark Twain’s observation about the weather, everyone complains about extreme rhetoric and political violence, but no one does much about it.  No one, perhaps, except Harmeet Dhillon. 

At a recent anti-ICE rally in Minneapolis, Turning Point USA observer/reporter Savanah Hernandez got assaulted by activists for recording the public events. Minneapolis police identified the trio that assaulted Hernandez as members of the Ostroushko family – father Christopher, mother Deyanna, and adult daughter Paige. The video depicts Christopher Ostroushko blindsiding Hernandez, who was injured in the attack. The local police investigation resulted in a minor misdemeanor charge against only Christopher in Hennepin County, where progressive-activist DA Mary Moriarty would be more likely to bury the case than try it. In the meantime, the father has been making the media rounds to paint himself as the victim, as Beege reported last week … colorfully. 

But a funny thing happened on the way to Moriarty’s expected hall pass. The assault actually took place at the Whipple Building, which is federal property – and that gives the Department of Justice jurisdiction as well. Assistant Attorney General Dhillon took immediate notice of this at the time of the assault and promised to put her Civil Rights Division “on it” to open a probe into the assault and intimidation of a journalist. Late yesterday, that shoe dropped on the Ostroushko family:

The Department of Justice today announced the unsealing of a federal grand jury indictment charging Christopher Ostroushko, Deyanna Ostroushko, and Paige Ostroushko with assaulting a journalist while she was reporting on an anti-ICE protest on federal property in St. Paul Minnesota on April 11, 2026. Christopher Ostroushko and Paige Ostroushko are also charged with willfully and forcefully injuring and intimidating that journalist.

“These three individuals were indicted by a grand jury for allegedly assaulting journalist and Turning Point USA contributor Savannah Hernandez, while she was lawfully reporting on anti-ICE protests outside a federal building in St. Paul,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “Hernandez was allegedly surrounded, physically assaulted, and shoved to the ground — simply because she was identified by the defendants as a conservative journalist. That is NOT ‘peaceful protest.’ These deplorable actions as charged in the indictment will not be tolerated in America, and this Department of Justice will always punish unhinged acts of political violence.”

“Political violence is a national scourge,” said United States Attorney Daniel N. Rosen for the District of Minnesota, “and federal law enforcement will not tolerate it.”

The indictment charges the father and daughter under 18 USC 245(b)(1)(B), interference with federally protected activities. Journalism on federal property is a free-speech and free-assembly activity that falls under this general clause: 

(b)Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, by force or threat of force willfully injures, intimidates or interferes with, or attempts to injure, intimidate or interfere with—

(1)any person because he is or has been, or in order to intimidate such person or any other person or any class of persons from— … 

(B)participating in or enjoying any benefit, service, privilege, program, facility, or activity provided or administered by the United States;

Section (5) might also apply, at least in terms of making sure the charge can be sustained, emphasis mine:

(5)any citizen because he is or has been, or in order to intimidate such citizen or any other citizen from lawfully aiding or encouraging other persons to participate, without discrimination on account of race, color, religion or national origin, in any of the benefits or activities described in subparagraphs (1)(A) through (1)(E) or subparagraphs (2)(A) through (2)(F), or participating lawfully in speech or peaceful assembly opposing any denial of the opportunity to so participate …

Normally, this would be a misdemeanor. However, if the charge includes a finding of physical injury, it appears to escalate to a felony:

… shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if bodily injury results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include the use, attempted use, or threatened use of a dangerous weapon, explosives, or fire shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both[.]

Note that this statute does not define or limit “bodily injury.” Hernandez suffered neck pain and scrapes, as well as the assault on her ears from the whistles blown directly into them, all of which are “bodily injuries.” All three defendants are also charged under 18 USC 113 for the assault itself, which limits the escalation to felony status to only “substantial bodily injury,” defined as:

(A) a temporary but substantial disfigurement; or

(B) a temporary but substantial loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member, organ, or mental faculty;

Absent such a finding, the maximum penalty for this crime would be one year in federal prison, since Hernandez was not just assaulted but also battered by the Ostroushkos. (Simple assault under this statute would have a maximum sentence of six months.)

Deyanna Ostroushko is probably not looking at actual federal prison time, unless she has a previous conviction on her record. However, Christopher and Paige are looking at the potential for serious time inside a Club Fed or worse if convicted of the top charge in the indictment. Their attorney may argue that Hernandez’ injuries are not serious enough to warrant a felony conviction under that statute, but that’s not how the statute is written. They may not get the full ten years, but it sounds like US Attorney David Rosen plans to make the Ostroushkos an example pour encourager les autres and to establish consequences for the “national scourge” that the Ostroushkos represent. 

That’s certainly the message Harmeet Dhillon intends to send, loudly and clearly. She was “on it” from the beginning, and in terms of grand-jury proceedings, practically sprinted across the finish line to file this indictment against the family that preys together to stay together. We need much more of this tough approach to political violence across the board. It will take more than a prison sentence for the Ostroushkos to re-set the incentive structure around the near-riots around federal immigration facilities and attacks on conservative observers to them. 

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