Missouri’s Republican Secretary of State, Jay Ashcroft, was assaulted by left-wing agitators upon his arrival at a local event, according to a report from NBC affiliate KOMU.
The Feb. 6 gathering was hosted by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Jefferson City, MO, following remarks at the Missouri General Assembly by Israeli Consul General Maor Elbaz-Starinsky. Ashcroft was assaulted when trying to enter the event venue.
“There’s a lot of yelling and screaming but as I was just walking along the sidewalk, it was fine until I turned left to actually head into the doorway,” Ashcroft said in an interview with The Federalist. “That’s when they … collapsed around me and [started] shoving me and pushing me.”
The far-left protestors, who Jefferson City Police Department told to clear the roadway, instead began blocking entrances to businesses, including the private event location. One protestor, Ainslee Harkins, 20, was arrested for alleged trespassing after entering the private event and refusing to leave.
Ashcroft said that one of the protestors, identified as 56-year-old Christopher Henry from St. Louis, threatened to throw him to the ground. Henry was arrested following a brief scuffle with Ashcroft. Ashcroft confirmed that he would respect a decision from the local prosecutor on the pursuit of charges against Henry.
Violence from far-left ‘protestors’ is common but rarely receives coverage by the mainstream media. Last month, the city of Seattle actually paid a $10 million settlement to violent agitators involved in the 2020 ‘Summer of Love’ riots, including an individual who was involved in assaulting police officers and carried an illegal weapon.
