A North Dakota judge issued a warrant Wednesday for the capture of Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, who is blamed for spray-painting construction equipment amid a protest against the Dakota Access pipeline.
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Green Party Presidential candidate Jill Stein may face charges of vandalism or trespassing in the wake of an incident involving spray paint on Dakota Access Pipeline machinery which took place on Tuesday in Morton County, N.D., according to the Bismarck Tribune.
Stein was in North Dakota with dozens of demonstrators to protest the building of the Dakota Access Pipeline, a almost $4 billion effort to construct a pipeline linking the Bakken shale formation, a large shale oil deposit in the state, with oil refineries on the Gulf coast.
Protesters, who say the project will damage burial sites considered sacred to a nearby Native American tribe and pollute the area’s drinking water, also attached themselves to bulldozers and broke a fence, the department said. The George Wilson Center seats approximately 150 people, and speakers will be set up outside to allow any overflow crowd to hear Stein, Cannon said.
Do you think this will help Jill Stein in the election or will it hurt her?
Jill Stein, who is now polling around 5%, was protesting with Native Americans in North Dakota to stop the Dakota Access pipeline. The sheriff said he withdrew his officers from Tuesday’s protest because he said some protesters wore masks and carried hatchets. The $3.8 billion pipeline will run from North Dakota to IL, and part of its path will cross the Missouri River.
The charges against Stein and Baraka are punishable by up to 30 days in jail and up to $1,000 in fines. Like protesting a awful pipeline that will destroy ancient Native American burial grounds and threaten an entire reservation’s water supply. A judge temporarily halted construction Tuesday on part of the project, and will reportedly rule by the end of the week on the tribe’s challenge. Stein is accused of criminal trespass and criminal mischief, along with her vice presidential pick Ajamu Baraka. She said she and her lawyers are fully cooperating with authorities. She said she did it because the Native American protesters asked her to.
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Stein was running fourth Wednesday behind Democrat Hillary Clinton, Republican Donald Trump and Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson in Real Clear Politics’ Poll Average, at 3.2 percent.
