No charges against the Code Pink anti-war protester Derrick Van Orden accused of assault

The anti-war protester accused by Wisconsin Rep. Derrick Van Orden of assault this week at the Republican National Convention will not face charges after prosecutors said they found "insufficient" evidence to back up the accusations.

Kent Lovern, the chief deputy district attorney for Milwaukee County, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the evidence in the case, including police body camera footage, "is insufficient to support a criminal charge" against the Code Pink activist Nour Jaghama.

Van Orden, a Prairie du Chien Republican, on Tuesday accused Jaghama, 24, of assault as the pair were in line for a a Republican women's lunch at the Pfister Hotel that morning. Code Pink activists planned to demonstrate at the event.

Van Orden at the time labeled the incident "political violence” and referred to Code Pink, which is against the war in Gaza, as "a pro-Hamas group.” But Code Pink denied an assault took place and has maintained Van Orden “tried to shove past” Jaghama.

The group celebrated the district attorney's decision this week and said it is "still pursuing the release of bodycam footage and filing an ethics complaint against Congressman Van Orden." A spokeswoman for Van Orden did not respond to a request for comment.

Milwaukee police in a statement after the incident said Van Orden “sustained minor injuries and refused medical attention on scene.”

But Van Orden on Wednesday told a crowd of Wisconsin Republicans that he has "been hit harder from air coming out of a blow dryer." Still, he called on people who commit "political violence" to be "prosecuted to the greatest extent of the law."

Asked by the Journal Sentinel this week what injuries he sustained, Van Orden said the 24-year-old woman "hip-checked me into cement." He said his hip hurt but noted he is "in pain all the time."

"Is that because of her or because of me?" he said of the pain in his hip. "I don't know, and I don't care."

Code Pink in a statement after Jaghama's arrest described the woman as “visibly Palestinian" and said she was “intentionally bumped into” by Van Orden “while he tried to shove past her.”

“He tried to cut me in line so I stood in front of him because I was first,” Jaghama said in a video posted by the group to X.

Jaghama told the Journal Sentinel on Thursday that she was detained for 15 hours before she was released early Wednesday morning. She said she travelled to Milwaukee for this first time this week from Chicago to protest against the war in Gaza and advocate for women's health care access.

She said her parents immigrated to the U.S. from the West Bank and noted that when she was detained by police following the interaction with Van Orden, someone in the crowd told the protesters to "move to Gaza" — an exchange posted to Code Pink's X account.

Jaghama said she wants police to release body camera footage of the incident.

Van Orden, who is running for reelection in the state's 3rd Congressional District, has been involved in confrontations before.

In 2021, he reportedly threatened a teenage librarian over an LGBT book display. And he drew criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike for cursing at a group of high school-aged Senate pages during a late-night tour of the U.S. Capitol.

The incident on Tuesday, Code Pink said, has led to threats against the group.

The group on Wednesday posted a purported recording of a threatening voice message the group said it received two hours after the incident with Van Orden.

In the recording, a man says he is going to "get my semi-truck and run over" pro-Palestinian protesters "and make road pancake out of you ..." He refers to the protesters using an anti-gay slur.

"I hope you all die (expletive)," the man says in the recording.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Gina Lee Castro contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: No charges against anti-war protester Van Orden accused of assault