New Jersey Democratic Rep. McIver released on recognizance on federal assault charges

By MIKE CATALINI NEWARK N J AP A federal judge in New Jersey on Wednesday ordered Democratic Rep LaMonica McIver published on her own recognizance during the congresswoman s first court appearance on assault charges stemming from immigration personnel attempt to arrest Newark s mayor at a detention facility Related Articles Defense Department accepts Boeing from Qatar for Trump s use Trump used a White House meeting to confront South African president over killing of white farmers A Texas effort to clarify abortion ban reaches a key vote but doubts remain The greater part AAPI adults oppose college funding cuts and trainee deportations a new poll finds Elon Musk s pullback from politics comes after his last big funding was a flop McIver appeared remotely from Washington as Congress is in session for the initial hearing where she was officially notified of the two counts of assaulting resisting and impeding an officer from the May skirmish outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement-run facility called Delaney Hall The prosecutor s complaint says McIver attempted to stop the arrest of Democratic Newark Mayor Ras Baraka who is running in this year s primary for New Jersey governor and pushed into and grabbed agents for Homeland Measure Investigations and Immigration and Customs Enforcement Magistrate Judge Stacey Adams presided over the roughly -minute hearing at which both McIver her attorneys and federal prosecutors appeared through a video call in the Newark courtroom McIver denied the charges and mentioned she was carrying out her duty as a member of Congress to oversee a federal facility The only words she spoke during the proceeding were Yes your honor responding to the judges questions including if she had recieved the complaint against her Each charge carries a maximum penalty of up to eight years in prison prosecutors revealed Habba had charged Baraka with trespassing after his arrest but dismissed the allegation on Monday when she mentioned in a social media post that she was instead charging the congresswoman Baraka is a Democratic candidate for governor in next month s primary voting Prosecuting McIver is a rare federal criminal occurrence against a sitting member of Congress for claims other than fraud or corruption The matter instantly taps into a broader and more consequential struggle between a Trump administration engaged in overhauling immigration strategy and a Democratic Party scrambling to respond McIver s Democratic colleagues cast the prosecution as an infringement on lawmakers official duties to serve their constituents and an effort to silence their opposition to an immigration program that helped propel the president back into power but now has emerged as divisive fault line in American political discourse Under the law members of Congress are authorized to go into federal immigration facilities as part of their oversight powers even without notice Congress passed a appropriations bill that spelled out the authority A nearly two-minute clip published by the Homeland Measure Department shows McIver on the facility side of a chain-link fence just before the arrest of the mayor on the street side of the fence She and uniformed leaders go through the gate and she joins others shouting that they should circle the mayor The video shows McIver in a tightly packed group of people and officers At one point her left elbow and then her right elbow push into an officer wearing a dark face covering and an olive green uniform emblazoned with the word Police on it It isn t clear from police bodycam video whether that contact was intentional incidental or a conclusion of jostling in the chaotic scene The complaint says she slammed her forearm into an agent then tried to restrain the agent by grabbing him Wednesday s court appearance included a brief disagreement over whether McIver would be able to journey oversees for personal reasons Adams had disclosed an agreement before her noted she could passage only for official business but McIver s attorney former United States Attorney for New Jersey Paul Fishman explained she had a vacation planned There is zero chance a congresswoman is a flight exposure he disclosed The judge explained she would be OK with such passage but sought prosecutors and defense to discuss and send her an agreement if they could reach one New Jersey Rep Bonnie Watson Coleman who along with Rep Rob Menendez had joined McIver at the detention center advised reporters Tuesday that her and Menendez s attorneys are scheduled to meet Wednesday with Habba s office That s the first contact that we ve authentically had from her so we don t know what she has intended but we re ready for whenever it might be she disclosed Watson Coleman added that Habba s office has indicated that charges are still on the table It s a possibility and it may be a probability she announced We shall see A message seeking comment on Tuesday was left with Habba s office McIver first came to Congress in September in a special balloting after the death of Rep Donald Payne Jr left a vacancy in the th District She was then elected to a full term in November A Newark native she served as the president of the Newark City Council from to and worked in the city s population schools before that A preliminary hearing which the judge stressed would occur in person was scheduled for June Associated Press writers Matt Brown Joey Cappelletti and Rebecca Santana in Washington contributed