The judge presiding over the trial of a former Justice Department worker charged with throwing a sandwich at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent in Washington, D.C., said he expects the proceedings to last no more than two days “because it’s the simplest case in the world.”
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, who was nominated to the bench by President Donald Trump, made the remarks Monday as attorneys are set to deliver their opening statements Tuesday in the trial of Sean Charles Dunn, according to The Associated Press. The agent who was struck by the sandwich in August is expected to be the government’s first witness.
Dunn was previously charged with a felony, but a grand jury declined to hand down an indictment. He is now facing a misdemeanor charge.
Footage of the episode shows an individual apparently running away from authorities after hurling the item at the officer. A statement of facts attached to a criminal complaint filed in August said Dunn shouted at CBP Agent Gregory Lairmore and tossed a sandwich at him.
“DUNN stood within inches of (Lairmore), pointed his finger in (Lairmore’s) face and yelled, ‘F— you! You f—ing fascists! Why are you here? I don’t want you in my city!'” according to the document.
Dunn tossed “a sandwich at him, striking (the CBP agent) in the chest,” the document added. “While being processed at Metropolitan Police Department’s Third District, DUNN told MTP Officer Gurkaranjot Thandi, ‘I did it. I threw a sandwich.'”
Dunn ran away but was apprehended. He was released from custody but was rearrested when a team of armed federal agents raided his home.
His lawyers argued that the White House posted a highly produced “propaganda” video of the raid on its official X account, noting that Dunn had offered to surrender to police before the raid.
Dunn worked as an international affairs specialist in the Justice Department’s criminal division. After Dunn’s arrest, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced his firing in a social media post that referred to him as “an example of the Deep State.”
Before trial, Dunn’s lawyers urged the judge to dismiss the case for what they allege is a vindictive and selective prosecution. They argued that the posts by Bondi and the White House prove Dunn was impermissibly targeted for his political speech.
Julia Gatto, one of Dunn’s lawyers, questioned why Trump’s Justice Department is prosecuting Dunn after the Republican president issued pardons and ordered the dismissal of assault cases stemming from a mob’s attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“It’s an obvious answer,” Gatto said during a hearing last Thursday. “The answer is they have different politics. And that’s selective prosecution.”
Prosecutors countered that Dunn’s political expressions don’t make him immune from prosecution for assaulting the agent.
“The defendant is being prosecuted for the obvious reason that he was recorded throwing a sandwich at a federal officer at point-blank range,” they wrote.
Dunn is charged with assaulting, resisting, opposing, impeding, intimidating and interfering with a federal officer.
