Elections

Arrest warrants issued for 2 on Green Party presidential ticket

By William Douglas

wdouglas@mcclatchydc.com

September 07, 2016 05:58 PM

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, second from right, participates in an oil pipeline protest on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016 in Morton County, N.D. LaDonna Allard AP
WASHINGTON

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein is wanted by the law.

Arrest warrants have been issued for Stein and running mate Amaju Baraka in connection with their actions at anti-pipeline protest in North Dakota.

Bismarck’s KFYR-TV reported Wednesday that Stein and Baraka are charged with criminal trespass and criminal mischief for venturing onto private property and spray-painting graffiti on a bulldozer. The television station reported that the charges are class B misdemeanors.

Stein’s campaign, in a statement Wednesday, said the Green Party standard bearers were supporting Native American groups in protesting the construction of the Dakota Pipeline.

September 7, 2016
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“In support of the action that stopped pipeline construction on Tuesday,Stein spray-painted the words ‘I approve this message’ onto the blade of a bulldozer that had been used to destroy sacred burial sites of the Standing Rock Sioux,” the campaign said in the statement.

A defiant Stein said in the statement that “I hope the North Dakota authorities press charges against the real vandalism taking place at the Standing Rock Sioux reservation: the bulldozing of sacred burial sites and the unleashing of vicious attack dogs.”

“I hope they take action against the Dakota Access Pipeline company that is endangering drinking water not only for the Standing Rock Sioux, but for millions of people downstream of the reservation who depend on the Missouri River,” she added.

Stein was running fourth Wednesday behind Democrat Hillary Clinton, Republican Donald Trump and Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson in Real Clear Politics’ Poll Average, at 3.2 percent.

William Douglas: 202-383-6026, @williamgdouglas