A sheriff’s department in North Dakota filed charges against the U.S. Green Party presidential candidate, Jill Stein, for damaging equipment during protests on Tuesday over construction of an oil pipeline.
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Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein sought to embrace Bernie Sanders supporters at a Nebraska campaign stop Wednesday, urging them to side with her over “lesser-evil Democrats” in November.
Stein and running mate Ajamu Baraka were charged Wednesday with misdemeanor counts of criminal trespass and criminal mischief.
Stein reportedly spray-painted the words “I approve this message” on a bulldozer at the pipeline construction site.
Kirchmeier said the sheriff’s office is working through the state’s attorney to pursue trespassing and vandalism charges against Stein after video of her spray painting the blade of a bulldozer was posted online, the Grand Forks Herald reported.
On Tuesday, CNBC reports, the company responsible for constructing the $3.7 billion project agreed to “temporarily halt construction of (the) oil pipeline only in some but not all parts of North Dakota” where there is believed to be tribal land. She said she did it because the Native American protesters asked her to.
Seemingly in response to the charges, Stein tweeted, “The Dakota Access Pipeline is vandalism on steroids”.
The tribe fears the pipeline will disturb sacred sites and impact drinking water for thousands of tribal members on the reservation and millions farther downstream. The massive project will deliver oil from vast deposits in the Peace Garden State to southern IL en route to refineries in the Midwest, the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico. “Chicago is leading the fight to close down polluting power plants, like in Pilsen where you closed down two polluting coal plants”, Stein said. The government responded by hiring a private security firm, who sicced their dogs on the protesters and pepper-sprayed at least 30 of them, some of them children.
After being prompted about the upcoming presidential debates, Stein championed an open debate format that would likely include her and Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson.
“What they are doing there is not just rescuing our water supply, our climate and our planet, they’re also lifting up this incredible vision of community and forgiveness”, said Stein, who spent the weekend at the protest camp near Standing Rock Reservation.
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A Reuters-Ipsos poll in late August showed Stein the first choice of 2 percent of voters, trailing Democrat Hillary Clinton, Republican Donald Trump and Libertarian Gary Johnson.
