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Peace group member accused of attacking Van Orden says congressman tried to get past her • Oklahoma Voice

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A Wisconsin congressman and an employee of the peace group CODEPINK are accusing the other of assault in an incident outside a Republican National Convention event on Tuesday.

In a statement, CODEPINK said that the group’s staffer, Nour Jaghama, was pushed from behind by U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Prairie du Chien) while Jaghama and other CODEPINK members were waiting in line for an event.

The event was a luncheon for Republican women. In his own account of the incident, Van Orden posted on X that he was “attacked by someone who appeared to be a member of the pro-Hamas group CODEPINK.” The post did not describe the actions that he said constituted an attack.

“A nearby police officer witnessed this attack and, to my knowledge, was arrested,” Van Orden’s post said.

The incident occurred around 11 a.m. outside the Pfister Hotel in downtown Milwaukee, where people were waiting in line to get into the building and attend the event in the hotel’s grand ballroom, said Melissa Garriga, a spokeswoman for CODEPINK.

CODEPINK’s statement said Jaghama was “peacefully waiting in line to get into an event” when she was “intentionally jostled by a shaven-headed white congressman as he attempted to push past her.”

Nour Jaghama. (Cropped screenshot from a CODEPINK video, used with permission)

The statement said Jaghama did not respond to the incident but was accused of assault by a Texas State Police trooper who responded to the scene and took her into custody. Milwaukee police later arrived and made the arrest.

CODEPINK posted a post on X about the incident with a video taken at the scene, apparently shortly after the incident and while other people were still waiting in line to enter the hotel. CODEPINK published the post on Tuesday at 3:27 p.m.

In the video, Jaghama says of Van Orden: “He pushed his way to the front, so I got in front of him because I was first.”

In a video on CODEPINK’s website, a member of the group says that when Van Orden “met them, he immediately said, ‘You are attacking a member of Congress.'”

CODEPINK’s statement described Jaghama as “visibly Palestinian.” The statement said two other CODEPINK staff entered the building before Jaghama “without any problems,” “raising suspicions of racial profiling.”

Garriga said Jaghama was taken to the Milwaukee Police Department’s 3rd Precinct station after her arrest. “We do not know what the charges are at this time,” Garriga told the Wisconsin Examiner in an email early Tuesday evening.

Van Orden’s post on X about the incident was dated 5:26 p.m.

In his post, Van Orden wrote: “This appears to be a case of political violence, and I will never tolerate it. Regardless of the severity of the violence, political violence is political violence.”

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