Ex-US Justice Department staffer who tossed sandwich at federal agent pleads not guilty

By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A former U.S. Justice Department employee who hurled a sandwich at a federal agent during President Donald Trump's crackdown on crime in Washington pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to a single charge of assaulting, resisting and impeding officers.

Prosecutors from U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro's office had sought to indict Sean Dunn on a felony assault charge in the case, but a grand jury declined to do so, forcing her office to downgrade the charge to a misdemeanor, a lesser offense that carries a lighter sentence and does not require a grand jury indictment.

Attorney General Pam Bondi fired Dunn, who worked on international affairs in the Justice Department's Criminal Division, after he was caught on camera throwing a sub sandwich at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent on August 10 in a bustling Washington neighborhood.

In the video, Dunn can be heard calling the officers "fascists" and yelling: "I don't want you in my city!" before throwing the sandwich.

The judge set a trial date for November 3.

Dunn's case is one of at least eight so far in D.C. in which a grand jury has declined to approve felony charges, according to a source familiar with the matter, a rare occurrence because prosecutors alone control the presentation of evidence and the legal standard is lower than it is to secure a conviction.

The refusals to indict have widely been interpreted by prosecutors as a form of protest by Washington residents angered over Trump's decision to flood the city with federal agents and National Guard troops.

In Dunn's case, the White House sent a team of social media experts to embed with an FBI squad for the night. They filmed Dunn's arrest, which has been viewed more than 2 million times on the White House's X page.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Andy Sullivan and Bill Berkrot)