TPUSA reporter attacked at anti-ICE protest speaks out after three indicted in assault case
A Turning Point USA reporter who was assaulted during an anti-ICE protest in Minneapolis is speaking out after a federal grand jury handed down indictments on Tuesday for three individuals in connection with the attack. The indicted individuals were identified by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche as Christopher Ostroushko, DeYanna Ostroushko and Paige Ostroushko.
"[Savanah] Hernandez was allegedly surrounded, physically assaulted, and shoved to the ground — simply because she was identified by the defendants as a conservative journalist. That is NOT 'peaceful protest.' These deplorable actions as charged in the indictment will not be tolerated in America, and this Department of Justice will always punish unhinged acts of political violence," Blanche wrote on X.
Frontlines TPUSA reporter Savanah Hernandez told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that she was "grateful" to see indictments brought against her alleged attackers.
"I feel so grateful that the federal government is actually paying attention to assaults on journalists," she said. "For years, both myself and my friends have been attacked for doing our jobs. So, to see the DOJ and the FBI take this seriously and utilize the full force of the government and the justice system to help Americans like myself is incredible."
Hernandez also expressed her gratitude to the grand jury, saying, "I'm just grateful that a grand jury was able to watch the evidence that was brought forth and come to this conclusion. Again, this isn't a left versus right issue and this wasn't the Trump DOJ that was politically persecuting people, this was a grand jury that came to this decision based off of the evidence that was brought forward."
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office announced on Wednesday it has charged 51-year-old Christopher Ostroushko with one count of fifth-degree assault. News of the charges broke while Hernandez was speaking to Fox News Digital. In response, she said that she was "grateful that they were at least willing to bring charges forward against Chris."
Hernandez was reporting on an anti-ICE protest on April 11 outside the Whipple Federal Building, an ICE field office that also serves as a detention facility, when the incident occurred. Hernandez previously told Fox News Digital that she did not engage with protesters, and was standing on the sidelines filming the demonstration. She said that things escalated when the protesters figured out that she worked for TPUSA, an organization founded by the late Charlie Kirk.
Video of the incident shows a large crowd surrounding Hernandez with several people screaming at her simultaneously. The TPUSA reporter previously told Fox News Digital that protesters blew horns in her face and yelled obscenities at her. She also alleged that Christopher Ostroushko, a local activist, shoved her from behind and screamed in her ear as his daughter, Paige Ostroushko, blew a whistle in her ear.
Hernandez was heard on video saying she was trying to leave and later said that, despite her attempts to get out of the situation, activists blocked her in. She said that after four or five attacks, a deputy stepped in and escorted her to a police vehicle. She sustained some injuries, with Frontlines TPUSA later saying that she had suffered a concussion, two sprains and multiple bruises.
"I was just brutally assaulted by multiple people outside of the Whipple ICE facility in Minneapolis," Hernandez wrote on X on April 11. "Multiple people swung on me and a grown man pushed me to the ground. My glasses are broken. ANTIFA still alive and well."
Liberal streamer Andrew Mercado condemned the assault in a post on X, saying that it "shouldn't have happened."
"Savannah [sic] was filming, not engaging with anyone, and it escalated into a physical confrontation that ultimately gave law enforcement a reason to step in and declare an unlawful assembly, shutting the entire protest down," Mercado wrote.
On April 15, Hernandez wrote on X that she had cancelled multiple interviews, saying that she felt "drained" after previous interviews and wanted to give herself "time to recover." Hernandez added that she had been dealing with headaches, dizziness and lightheadedness, revealing that a doctor confirmed that she had a concussion.
MINNESOTA MAN WHO SHOVED CONSERVATIVE REPORTER SAYS HE'S SECOND GUESSING LIVING IN US AFTER BACKLASH
Christopher Ostroushko said in an April 15 interview with "Pushing The Limits" that he and his family are "absolutely not violent people" and that they "tend to shy away from it." In the same interview, he denied being at the front of the protest and said that he "stayed at the back and kind of watched what was going on."
Hernandez refuted the Ostroushko family's narrative, saying "if I hit them first, it would be on camera." She noted that there were "multiple angles of Paige walking up to me as I’m standing by myself." The reporter added that DeYanna Ostroushko, Christopher's wife, was the one who "came up and started harassing me."
"At no point was I walking up to these people," Hernandez told Fox News Digital in a previous interview. "All three of them walked up to me. The mother and father shoved me first and then instructed their daughter to come assault me."
When speaking to Fox News Digital on Wednesday, Hernandez recalled the attack, again saying that Christopher, Paide and DeYanna Ostroushko approached her first.
Earlier this month, Hernandez told Fox News Digital that the assault was especially jarring because, in her view, it crossed a major line.
"There is an aspect that or a threshold that has been passed now," she said at the time. "Typically in the United States, typically in the West... it's a basic common thing that men don't attack women that are unarmed and not touching them. So a threshold has been passed with that and that was why this was so jarring to me."
Fox News Digital reached out to the lawyer representing the Ostroushko family for comment.
Fox News Digital's Kristine Parks contributed to this report.