By now, Sean Charles Dunn probably wishes he had just quietly eaten the Subway sandwich that he chucked at a law enforcement officer in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 10 after stomping around and shouting obscenities at Metro Transit Police and members of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Dunn has been criminally charged with “assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers and employees of the United States,” a felony, and he lost his job as an international affairs specialist at the Department of Justice (DOJ). Dunn was hired there in 2022 under former President Joe Biden. The Office of International Affairs deals with “sensitive law enforcement matters that could impact the foreign relations and strategic interests of the United States.”

As a small group of police and CBP officers walked on the sidewalk, Dunn can be seen on video shouting at them and about them.

“Do you see these fascists? … F-ck you, fascists!” Dunn yelled as they walked across the street.

“You f-cking fascists! Why are you here? I don’t want you in my city!” Dunn said, according to the criminal complaint.

Ultimately, he followed them across the street, taunting them with more yelling and obscenities, pointing at the chest of one officer, getting in his face, and ultimately hurling his still wrapped, taxpayer-funded, foot-long sandwich at the CBP officer. Dunn must have realized it was a bad idea because he immediately turned around and started to run away, with several officers chasing and catching him.   

Dunn admitted, “I did it. I threw a sandwich,” while being processed at the police department, according to the complaint.

“This is an example of the Deep State we have been up against for seven months as we work to refocus DOJ,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a social media post. “You will NOT work in this administration while disrespecting our government and law enforcement.”

A month ago, this kind of public disturbance may have gone unaddressed, and it would have emboldened more bad behavior. But with the aim of cleaning up crime in the nation’s capital, President Donald Trump and the Department of Justice have set a new standard: “You spit and we hit,” meaning physically antagonizing police officers will no longer be a game with no consequences. On Monday Trump announced a federal takeover of the Washington, D.C., police, as my colleague Breccan Thies reported.

“Our capital city,” Trump said, “has been overtaken by violent gangs and blood-thirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs, and homeless people, and we’re not going to let it happen anymore.”

Dunn is represented by attorney Sabrina Shroff, who has previously represented ex-CIA software engineer Joshua Schulte in the WikiLeaks case and Fyre Festival promoter Billy McFarland. She served as Chelsea bomber Ahmad Rahimi’s attorney until it was revealed that she was also representing “an accused ISIS recruiter” to whom Rahimi had given terror-related information while in prison. 

Beth Brelje is an elections correspondent for The Federalist. She is an award-winning investigative journalist with decades of media experience.