
Man charged with throwing sandwich at US agent was Justice Dept staffer
Sean Dunn, 37, assisted lawyers on international cases in the department's Criminal Division, a Justice Department official said.
"I just learned that this defendant worked at the Department of Justice — NO LONGER," Bondi wrote on X. "Not only is he FIRED, he has been charged with a felony."
Dunn has not entered a plea. His attorney had no immediate comment on the charge, which carries up to one year in prison.
The episode has received widespread attention as the Trump administration has deployed federal agents to canvass Washington neighborhoods and temporarily taken control of the city's police department to curb what Trump has depicted as a crime emergency in the U.S. capital, though statistics show violent crime has fallen sharply since 2023.
The increased federal presence has drawn a mixed response from residents of the overwhelmingly Democratic city. Several agents on patrol in the Navy Yard neighborhood were occasionally heckled on Wednesday night, with one onlooker warning others to "hide your kids, hide your wives" and criticizing their bulletproof vests.
Dunn was charged with assaulting, resisting and impeding officers after he allegedly threw the sandwich at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent on Sunday night. Dunn allegedly called the officers "fascists" and yelled "I don't want you in my city!" before "winding his arm back and forcefully throwing a sub-style sandwich" at the agent, according to a criminal complaint.
Dunn was taken into custody at the scene and admitted to throwing the sandwich, according to the charging document.
The officer did not appear to be injured, according to a video on social media.
Dunn was taken into custody again overnight on Thursday after the federal charge was filed. Dunn's arrest was one of nine the FBI was involved in on Wednesday night in Washington, ranging from low-level drug offenses to illegal gun possession, according to a different Justice Department official.
Around midnight on Wednesday, more than a dozen agents took a man into custody in the Brightwood neighborhood for driving without a license after they pulled him over for driving with overly tinted windows.
A local resident, who identified herself as Miss Anne, said the increased law enforcement was not necessarily a bad thing.
'There's a lot of things happening so if this makes things better they are welcome,' she said. 'Does it need to be this much force? We will have to see.'
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Independent
28 minutes ago
- The Independent
Macron addresses Trump's hot mic remark about Putin's Ukraine deal
French President Emmanuel Macron has addressed Donald Trump 's hot mic remark about a Ukraine peace deal with Russia. The US president was hear whispering that Vladimir Putin 'wants to make a deal for me' before his meting with European leaders at the White House on Monday (19 August). 'Your president is very confident about the capacity he has to get this deal done and can break this daily killings which are the responsibility of the Russian aggressors, so I think it is great news.'


The Independent
28 minutes ago
- The Independent
Top Air Force general to resign because Pete Hegseth wants to take Pentagon in ‘different direction'
U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin is to retire two years into his four-year term, marking the latest shake-up at the Department of Defense under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The Air Force announced in a statement that Allvin would leave his role on November 1, with Air Force Secretary Troy Meink thanking him for his 'transformational' efforts. 'I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve as the 23rd Air Force Chief of Staff and I'm thankful for Secretary Meink, Secretary Hegseth and President Trump's faith in me to lead our service,' Allvin is quoted as saying. 'More than anything, I'm proud to have been part of the team of airmen who live out our core values of integrity, service and excellence every day as we prepare to defend this great nation.' According to The Washington Post, Allvin was 'informed last week that he would be asked to retire and that the Pentagon under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wanted to go in another direction.' 'It was certainly not his choice,' the newspaper quotes an unnamed source as saying. The Independent has asked the Pentagon for clarification about the circumstances of Allvin's departure. Gen. Thomas Bussiere, whom Trump nominated in July to become vice chief of staff of the Air Force and was involved in the 'Operation Midnight Hammer' strikes on Iran's nuclear bases in June, has been tipped as a possible replacement for the outgoing general. The upheaval is only the latest to take place under Hegseth, with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the chief of naval operations, the commandant of the Coast Guard, and the vice chief of staff of the Air Force all changed since he took charge in January. Several generals and admirals in less prominent roles also have been replaced. Earlier this year, it was reported that Vice President JD Vance and Donald Trump 's White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles had had to step in to help Hegseth hire a new chief of staff and two senior advisers due to an abiding reluctance to work with him. While those positions would ordinarily be considered highly prestigious, the secretary was struggling to fill them after causing a stir with his response to the 'Signalgate' scandal, which erupted in March when Trump's short-lived national security adviser Mike Waltz accidentally added Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg to a Signal group chat in which top secret information about an upcoming bombing raid on Houthi rebels in Yemen was discussed. In April, The New York Times reported that Hegseth had shared sensitive material in another group chat that included his wife, brother, and personal attorney. Hegseth responded by accusing three senior aides of leaking to the media. Still, an investigation later found no evidence against them, which reportedly cast fresh doubt on his judgment within the West Wing. Shortly after that, his chief of staff, Joe Kasper, and spokesperson John Ullyot both left the Department of Defense, leaving behind an unwanted portrait of chaos.


Reuters
29 minutes ago
- Reuters
Facing Trump tariffs, India's shrimp farmers consider switching to other businesses
HYDERABAD, India/GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador Aug 19 (Reuters) - On India's southern coast, V. Srinivas thrived for two decades by farming shrimp, as the country became the top supplier of the delicacy to the United States. Now, Donald Trump's 50% tariff threat is forcing many to consider other ways of making money. Andhra Pradesh state sends the most shrimp from India to the U.S. and farmers there have spent millions of rupees (hundreds of thousands of U.S. dollars) over the years to cultivate high-quality shrimp in saline ponds. Now they are being hit hard as Indian exporters have slashed rates they offer farmers by almost 20% after the tariff shock, wiping out most of their profits. "I am contemplating if I should do fish farming," said the 46-year-old from Veeravasaram village who has already mortgaged his family property and has $45,800 in outstanding loans. "These prices will not help me get any profits and I will not be able to pay off my loan." The United States is the biggest market for India's shrimp farmers and exporters, with clients including U.S. supermarket chains such as Walmart and Kroger. Last year, total seafood exports from India globally stood at $7.4 billion, with shrimp accounting for 40%. But the industry is now in troubled waters with President Trump's 25% tariff on imports from India already in place - the highest among major economies, and another 25% levy to kick in from August 27 to penalize New Delhi for buying Russian oil. By comparison, Ecuador, India's main rival for shrimp exports to the U.S., faces a much lower 15% tariff, heightening its competitive edge. In Andhra, there are around 300,000 farmers engaged in shrimp farming, selling products to dozens of exporters who ship to America. Pawan Kumar, head of the Seafood Exporters Association of India, said orders from U.S. clients have been paused in recent weeks as buyers aren't willing to absorb the tariff, and neither can exporters, forcing the latter to cut prices they pay to farmers. Although India also sells shrimp to other countries such as China, Japan and the UK, and likely will look to expand sales there and diversify into new markets, "that's not going to happen overnight," Kumar said. The impact is yet another example of how Trump's tariff threats are causing business disruptions across the world, especially in India, given it faces one of the steepest levies that have soured its relations with Washington. In Andhra, six of 12 farmers Reuters interviewed said they were considering putting shrimp farming on hold and looking at fish farming, vegetable retailing or other local businesses to tide over the crisis. The other six are choosing to wait it out a bit. Each round of shrimp cultivation takes about 2 months or more. While prices being offered for their shrimp are being slashed, the farmers said they still face loan payments and high operating costs for electricity, raw material and feed, as well as high land rentals. "There's hardly a 20-25% profit for us on good days, and if that's getting eaten up, what else is left?," said Gopinath Duggineni, the chief of a local union in Ongole city, adding the farmers plan to seek financial support from the state government. Ecuador, meanwhile, is closely tracking tariffs on India to seize on business opportunities, but producers there will go slow on new investments amid uncertainty over whether India and the Trump administration could strike a tariff deal, said Jose Antonio Camposano, president of National Chamber of Aquaculture of Ecuador. "India's exports are highly concentrated in the United States ... just as China is for us. So that is where we could gain ground if India withdraws," he said.