Savannah Hernandez Returns After Violent Assault by Minneapolis Mob During ICE Protest Journalism

[00:00] I had the opportunity to have Savannah

[00:02] Hernandez join us today. She uh as you

[00:04] know was assaulted in Minneapolis in

[00:07] Henipin County at uh getting some B-roll

[00:10] there. She's a TPSA front lines

[00:12] journalist and after that she kind of

[00:14] had to take some time and she's back so

[00:18] I wanted to have her on soon as she was

[00:20] ready to get her story. Without further

[00:22] ado, Savannah Hernandez, welcome back to

[00:25] the show.

[00:27] >> Thanks for having me, Andrew. I wish it

[00:28] was under better circumstances.

[00:30] >> Yeah. Well, you look good and and I know

[00:32] we've been staying in touch uh behind

[00:34] the scenes as you've been kind of

[00:35] processing everything that happened.

[00:38] First of all, you know, and by the way,

[00:40] we would have had you on immediately

[00:42] after, but you know, you were going

[00:44] through something and we wanted to give

[00:46] you space and and hopefully you're

[00:48] feeling better now, but tell us

[00:51] for the audience that doesn't know, tell

[00:52] us what happened and and then we're

[00:54] going to get into some of the aftermath

[00:57] that we've been dealing with. And just,

[00:59] you know, for your own edification,

[01:01] we've got Harit Dylan coming on and

[01:03] we're going to be asking her about all

[01:06] of the legal proceedings and uh what

[01:08] what progress is being made or needs to

[01:10] still be made. So that comes at the half

[01:13] hour mark of this hour. So tell us your

[01:15] story, Seth.

[01:17] >> Sure. So first off, thank you for giving

[01:19] me the time to kind of cope with this.

[01:21] Um, you know, I've been working in media

[01:24] for um, the last 6 years and I'm very

[01:28] much used to being in very volatile

[01:30] situations and then still getting on air

[01:33] and discussing, you know, what happened.

[01:34] This is not the first time that I've

[01:36] been mobbed and attacked. Uh, however,

[01:38] it was one of the most violent assaults

[01:39] that I've experienced. So, I I did get a

[01:42] concussion as a result of this and I was

[01:44] kind of just trying to push through my

[01:46] media hits and then I just realized, you

[01:47] know, I can't I can't keep watching the

[01:50] footage. I can't I don't want to keep

[01:51] talking about this and I also physically

[01:53] am just not doing well. Um so I just

[01:55] decided to you know take the week um

[01:57] last week. So thank you for giving me

[01:59] the time. But basically you know I'm

[02:01] sure everybody's seen this for those who

[02:02] haven't. I was at a national protest

[02:06] against ICE uh day and I happened to go

[02:09] to Minneapolis. I have been watching

[02:11] what's been happening there. I've been

[02:13] covering illegal immigration extensively

[02:14] for the last four years and didn't go

[02:17] when the, you know, major ICE protests

[02:20] were happening in January and so figured

[02:22] I would kind of go check out the scene,

[02:24] go check out the Whipple Ice Building

[02:25] and go cover this protest, right? And

[02:27] just kind of gauge where the protesters

[02:29] were at and what the scene was like.

[02:31] Now, in situations like this, I very

[02:33] much just conduct point and andoot

[02:35] observational journalism because a lot

[02:38] of the time these leftwingers are very

[02:39] violent. And so I was there to do that,

[02:41] but it didn't matter. Um, I was still

[02:43] violently assaulted. I was identified as

[02:45] a journalist who works for Turning Point

[02:47] USA. And after that, chaos ensued. I was

[02:51] initially identified by William Scott

[02:52] Kelly, who is the same protester who was

[02:55] already arrested a couple months back

[02:57] for storming a church in Minneapolis and

[02:59] shutting down the entire church service,

[03:01] you know, resulting in children crying

[03:03] in fear because these violent protesters

[03:05] were in there screaming at people. uh he

[03:07] was the same guy that came up to me and

[03:08] identified me. He began badgering me

[03:11] with very hostile questions. At that

[03:13] point, I was still trying to diffuse the

[03:14] situation and just, you know, do

[03:16] journalism. I was like, "Okay, well,

[03:17] talk to me about why you're here. Why is

[03:19] this important to you? How many months

[03:20] have you guys been on the ground

[03:21] protesting for? Uh discuss why you're

[03:24] angry." It didn't matter. Again, like I

[03:26] said, no matter what you say in that

[03:28] moment, um we know that the leftwing has

[03:31] become extremely radicalized and

[03:32] violent. Um it didn't matter what I

[03:35] said. They were trying to twist my

[03:36] words. They were just angry that I was

[03:38] even present in there. And I was told to

[03:39] get the f out. Uh to which I responded,

[03:41] I I don't have to. I'm on a public

[03:43] street and I have a right to be here.

[03:45] Now, it didn't matter. At that point, I

[03:46] was getting mobbed. And I did walk over

[03:48] to a portion of the fence where I was

[03:50] hoping police would see me and see the

[03:51] situation that was unfolding. Um because

[03:54] I didn't want to have to walk through a

[03:56] mob on my own because again typically in

[03:58] a mob situation where everyone is

[04:00] surrounding you screaming at you and

[04:01] hate like obviously hates you. Trying to

[04:04] walk through them when they very clearly

[04:06] want to hurt you is not the best idea.

[04:07] So I was standing off to the side kind

[04:09] of hoping that the cops would come and

[04:11] diffuse the situation. They never did.

[04:12] So at that point I was like okay I'm

[04:14] going to have to walk out because uh

[04:16] Dian Ashrushko we have a whole family

[04:18] here Diana Chris and Pa Ashrusko that

[04:20] committed this very violent assault.

[04:22] other unnamed defendants as well who

[04:24] were um swinging sex toys in my face and

[04:27] um you know hitting me with them. But

[04:30] basically these two as you see on screen

[04:31] were the ones that initially came up to

[04:33] me and started making a huge issue and

[04:35] Chris and Paige had already body checked

[04:36] me and were screaming very violently at

[04:38] me. I tried to walk away from them. Um

[04:41] you know you you did catch Chris on

[04:43] camera. There's an angle of him

[04:46] instructing his daughter Paige to come

[04:47] up to me and blow a whistle in my ear.

[04:49] At that point, I'm just trying to walk

[04:51] away from these people. They won't let

[04:52] me walk away from them. They're

[04:54] following me. As I'm trying to leave,

[04:55] Paige then decides to slam me on the

[04:57] ground. After I get up, I have my arm

[04:59] out to try to diffuse the situation even

[05:01] more because I'm like, I'm not going to

[05:03] fight back against these people. I'm

[05:04] outnumbered. I also I'm not here to

[05:06] fight people. I'm just here to do my

[05:08] job. Um, you know, Paige slams me down.

[05:11] She's throwing punches. Her mom then

[05:13] comes up to me from behind as I'm trying

[05:15] to leave and you know accuses me of

[05:17] hitting her daughter. Uh I'm still

[05:20] trying to leave at that point and then

[05:21] Chris comes up behind me. This man is

[05:23] about three times my size and he um

[05:26] slams me to the ground. I get up. The

[05:28] first thing I see is Paige in front of

[05:29] me again. I'm like, "Okay, these people

[05:31] are clearly not going to let me leave."

[05:33] And so I basically like trying to push

[05:34] my way out of the situation. Deanna and

[05:36] Paige then come and tackle me again.

[05:38] Now, this entire family has since um

[05:42] continued to state that I was the

[05:43] aggressor the entire time. Chris states

[05:46] that he was protecting his family

[05:48] because I guess I was a very violent

[05:49] safety threat to this family, Andrew, as

[05:52] I was trying to leave. Um they have gone

[05:54] on an entire press tour and I mean the

[05:57] reason why it's taken me some time to

[05:58] even just come back on air and talk

[06:00] about this one, you know, I don't want

[06:01] to keep reliving it, but two, like we

[06:03] have to because these people aren't in

[06:04] jail. Um they're still out free. They're

[06:07] actually on social media bragging about

[06:09] how they're free and how they're

[06:10] enjoying the casino and they're enjoying

[06:12] going to Target. Um they

[06:16] >> we have this image too. This is daughter

[06:18] Paige Arrushko on social media. She said

[06:21] so unbothered that I went from being

[06:23] assaulted by and she has a toilet paper

[06:26] roll that she she claims she was

[06:28] assaulted and the police to doxed and

[06:30] trending on Twitter for a week being

[06:32] sent threats constantly rumors of my

[06:34] arrest to gambling at the casino free

[06:38] lol.

[06:39] So that these are the quality of people

[06:41] that we're dealing with here. And the

[06:43] the the brazeness and the audacity to

[06:46] say that they were assaulted by you when

[06:48] we've all seen the footage of you trying

[06:50] to get away from them and then cons

[06:52] consistently attacking you is really

[06:55] rich. I mean that's a that's a really I

[06:59] I mean we have the footage. I don't

[07:01] think I don't know what they think

[07:02] they're going to get away with here. Uh,

[07:04] but maybe they're just banking on

[07:06] liberal judges, liberal prosecutors in

[07:08] Henipin County. Is that does that seem

[07:10] to be the case, Savannah?

[07:13] >> I mean, I would argue so. Obviously,

[07:15] this is an ongoing investigation at both

[07:17] the state and federal level. But

[07:19] regarding the state level, it has been

[07:21] almost two weeks. Saturday will be two

[07:23] weeks since this very clear attack

[07:26] happened on camera in 4K Ultra HD, uh,

[07:29] it's pretty cut and dry. I have there

[07:31] has been no, you know, public statement

[07:33] from the county DA's office. Um, I've

[07:37] spoken to them on a personal level and

[07:38] they basically have just told me like,

[07:40] "Yeah, we'll have more information

[07:41] within the week." But there has really

[07:43] been no statement. And like I said,

[07:46] these people are still out free, which

[07:47] is just very frustrating to me because

[07:49] instead of sitting in jail after

[07:51] assaulting somebody who was doing

[07:52] nothing to them, these people are on a

[07:54] press tour attesting that they are not

[07:56] violent and that uh again they are the

[07:59] real victims here.

[08:00] >> Yeah, Sav, hang right there cuz we've

[08:02] got some of that footage which is just

[08:03] so obscene. Um really offensive. If

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[08:43] We have some clips here we need to just

[08:45] we just need to play because I think

[08:46] people will be shocked when they realize

[08:48] just how I don't know offensive

[08:51] obnoxious these people are the Strusco

[08:54] family. Let's play uh Satu.

[08:57] >> Maybe um you guys do get doxed, but I

[09:01] don't know if you guys are getting the

[09:02] same type of stuff that we're getting

[09:04] and it's non-stop. It's hundreds of

[09:06] phone calls a day. It's text messages

[09:09] and them trying to get into all of our

[09:12] social media accounts and contacting our

[09:15] friends, our neighbors, our family. It's

[09:19] uh a little overwhelming and and and

[09:23] makes me second guess even living in

[09:24] this country to be honest with you.

[09:27] >> Oh, so

[09:28] >> Oh, no.

[09:28] >> Yeah. They're they feel bad that he he

[09:32] pushed a a woman, assaulted a woman

[09:35] violently, had it, you know, had his

[09:37] whole family involved in the assault and

[09:39] now he's the victim. This is their

[09:41] victim tour. It's pretty offensive, Sav.

[09:44] It's It's got to just be infuriating

[09:46] being in your position.

[09:48] >> Yeah. You know, it's also just comical

[09:51] at this point. Like, I go through phases

[09:53] of being very angry and then also just

[09:55] laughing because it's like, am I living

[09:57] in crazy land? What universe am I in

[09:59] where this man legitimately thought he

[10:01] could assault a woman on camera and that

[10:04] people were going to be on his side? If

[10:06] anything, it has reinstilled my hope in

[10:07] America. I'm like, okay, incredible. We

[10:09] all can agree, you know, and primarily

[10:12] too, there's like a lot of people on the

[10:13] left that are like, "Yeah, don't attack

[10:15] women." And it's actually really funny

[10:17] because a lot of the left-wing streamers

[10:18] that were there that hate me, they even

[10:20] put out statements immediately and they

[10:22] were like, "Yeah, we hate this girl. we

[10:24] hate everything she stands for, but she

[10:26] wasn't doing anything and we probably

[10:28] shouldn't put our hands on women. So,

[10:30] it's like if if you're that extreme, um

[10:33] I'm glad that we can at least come

[10:36] together on um you know, agreeing that

[10:38] it's bad to assault women when you're

[10:40] three times their size.

[10:42] >> A journalist in general, like, you know,

[10:44] I have a a lot of problems with

[10:46] journalists. I think journalists are

[10:47] annoying. I think they're largely a not

[10:50] you but in general journalists are

[10:52] annoying so-called journalists and they

[10:54] do a lot of harm to this country

[10:55] actually but like never in a million

[10:57] years would I think it's okay to go out

[10:58] on a street and then you know shove

[11:01] somebody to the ground kick them punch

[11:02] them assault them and get in their face

[11:05] with sex toys and like I mean what a

[11:08] >> I could think of a lot of journalists

[11:09] I'd do that to

[11:10] >> well yeah you you might want to but you

[11:12] wouldn't all right I'm gonna play Paige

[11:15] this is Paige again bragging about she's

[11:17] Uh stop four

[11:19] >> currently walking free in a target to

[11:21] everybody that thinks we're been

[11:22] arrested.

[11:29] >> So she's just going she's just mocking

[11:32] law enforcement here.

[11:34] >> After I got a hold of these social media

[11:36] clips because of course I've posted them

[11:37] because people are following along with

[11:39] this story. They want to make sure that

[11:40] justice is served. They ended up both

[11:43] Paige and her father making both of

[11:45] their social media accounts private

[11:47] because I think they realized that going

[11:49] on this press tour and gloating about

[11:51] how they're not being held responsible

[11:52] is a really bad look for them. So, um

[11:56] yeah, it was funny. They put this out,

[11:57] they immediately made all of their

[11:58] accounts even more private than they

[12:00] already were so nobody could continue

[12:02] collecting again this evidence of them.

[12:05] And it's just so crazy too, Andrew,

[12:06] because you know what? Shout out to

[12:08] these leftwing streamers that do hate

[12:10] me, but they are the ones that did end

[12:12] up catching Chris. Uh, instructing his

[12:14] daughter to come assault me, and then

[12:16] they also caught Deanna after I had left

[12:18] the scene, admitting to tackling me to

[12:21] the ground and admitting that she ran

[12:23] away before the police could get her

[12:24] because, uh, you know, as of now, there

[12:27] have been no charges referred for

[12:28] Deanna. Um, and then it was only

[12:31] misdemeanor charges that were referred

[12:33] by the sheriff's department for Chris

[12:34] and Paige as well. So, um, we'll see

[12:37] what end up ends up happening with this.

[12:39] Like I said, this is all still ongoing.

[12:41] But at the end of the day, Andrew, it

[12:43] shouldn't take somebody who is like goes

[12:46] viral for justice to be served. And it's

[12:48] really frustrating to me that Henipin

[12:50] County has been allowing this type of

[12:52] activity to take place for so long that

[12:54] the protesters think that this is their

[12:55] right to do. It's their right to assault

[12:57] people that they don't like. It's their

[12:59] right to assault people that they don't

[13:00] agree with. Because keep in mind, I am

[13:02] one of many people this has happened to

[13:05] in Minneapolis, in Minnesota over even

[13:08] just the last 6 months because this is

[13:10] what the DA's office allows. And it's

[13:12] very frustrating to me because I don't

[13:15] understand how our justice system has

[13:18] gotten so

[13:20] just diluted and destroyed to where this

[13:22] is the norm for people and these the

[13:24] this whole family is still walking free.

[13:26] >> Yeah. I mean, candidly, I mean, this you

[13:29] see this in California. going to see

[13:30] this in New York. Henipin County is no

[13:33] different. It's it's an anarcho tyranny

[13:35] where they will enforce the letter of

[13:38] the law to the most exacting extent if

[13:41] it's a conservative. But if it's one of

[13:42] theirs, something they agree with, then

[13:45] they'll let everything slide. They'll

[13:46] they'll they'll sweep it under the rug.

[13:47] >> You can see it with the entitlement of

[13:49] that guy where he's pouting, oh, we're

[13:50] getting we're getting ducks on the

[13:51] internet. They they really do think it's

[13:54] just their day at the races. just go out

[13:57] and, you know, shove people, punch

[13:59] people. It's like it's like going to

[14:02] church for them. We're infringing on

[14:03] their religious beliefs, really.

[14:05] >> Yeah. No, and it these are lawless hell

[14:07] holes and and honestly, it's outposts of

[14:10] lawlessness uh right here in the United

[14:12] States of America. And it's it's

[14:14] incredibly infuriating because I if you

[14:17] go back to where all of all of this

[14:18] started, it was really local law

[14:20] enforcement that allowed the protesters

[14:22] in uh the Minneapolis area to get out of

[14:25] control in the first place. They wanted

[14:28] to see Minneapolis explode into a war

[14:30] zone and they got what they wanted.

[14:31] Sure, it cost them a couple dead uh

[14:33] vigilantes that that were using their

[14:35] cars as uh in their in in the instance

[14:37] of Alex Prey. I mean, he kicked a car.

[14:40] He was uh absolutely antagonizing ICE

[14:43] agents and law enforcement officers and

[14:45] they got what they wanted. So what they

[14:46] they lost a few they they won the PR

[14:48] battle and you know that that's for them

[14:51] is exactly what they wanted. So to hell

[14:53] with the law, to hell with order, chaos

[14:55] rules supreme and and I it's really

[14:58] disappointing and that's why we have to

[15:00] have federal action on this case because

[15:02] we have to send a message. It's bigger

[15:04] than what happened. I mean you got you

[15:06] got assaulted, your body took a beating.

[15:08] I know it's been emotional for you, but

[15:11] it's it's even bigger than that. You had

[15:13] the concussion. It's bigger than that.

[15:15] We have to send a message to people like

[15:18] this. They're vigilantes, really.

[15:20] They're the the left's foot soldiers

[15:21] that it's not okay to do this. And the

[15:24] law the the the law and justice will be

[15:27] coming for you. You will serve time. You

[15:29] will be held accountable. And that's the

[15:30] message here.