Linwood Michael Kaine, a son of former 2016 Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine, faces criminal charges for allegedly joining in an anti-Trump riot to attack supporters of President Donald Trump in March in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Authorities charged the 24-year-old Kaine with “fleeing police on foot, concealing his identity in a public place, and obstructing legal process,” according to a detailed Twin Cities Pioneer Press report. “When people seek to prevent others who are peacefully assembled from making their voices heard, it threatens the very foundation of our democracy,” a local attorney said Friday after the charges against Kaine and seven others were announced.
Police said Kaine was allegedly part of a violent, masked group:
Security officers saw five people dressed in black leaving the Capitol, including one who threw a smoke bomb inside, according to complaints filed by the city attorney’s office. They went to a nearby spot and “tried to change their appearance by doing things like taking off their black clothing, putting on different jackets or hats, and turning their clothing inside out,” the complaints said.
When police approached, they scattered and ran. Steve Frazer, who was then a St. Paul police senior commander, chased a man who was later identified as Woody Kaine.
A Mar. 7 Twin Cities Pioneer Press report states that Kaine allegedly fought with police after being part of a group that threw a smoke bomb in a government building during a rally for President Trump:
Clad in black and wearing a mask, the youngest son of Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine wrested himself from the cop and then “squared off” with him.
Woody Kaine, 24, was among five masked, black-garbed people suspected of lobbing a smoke bomb minutes earlier inside the Minnesota Capitol rotunda Saturday afternoon.
Officers had chased him down, but Kaine wasn’t about to submit, according to a more detailed account provided Wednesday by St. Paul police.
In the end, it took three officers, a “knee strike” and a chemical spray to subdue Kaine after he was identified as one of the counterprotesters [sic] who allegedly used fireworks or a smoke bomb to disrupt a rally in support of President Donald Trump at the Minnesota State Capitol, according to police spokesman Steve Linders.
Less than two months before his son was arrested after the anti-Trump and anti-free speech riot, Kaine said on MSNBC that progressives must “fight in the streets” after Trump’s election.
“What we’ve got to do is fight in Congress, fight in the courts, fight in the streets, fight online, fight at the ballot box, and now there’s the momentum to be able to do this,” Kaine told MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski on Jan. 31.
After his son’s arrest, Kaine issued a statement that did not appear to condemn his son’s alleged actions.
“We love that our three children have their own views and concerns about current political issues. They fully understand the responsibility to express those concerns peacefully,” Kaine said, as reported by Breitbart News.
On Friday, a Kaine spokeswoman doubled down, ignoring allegations that Kaine had taken part in smoke-bombing the Minnesota State Capitol and attempting to dismiss the severity of fighting police officers.
“Today’s announcement of misdemeanor charges against Sen. Kaine’s son contains no suggestion that he engaged in disruptive behavior while at the rally, but are instead focused on his actions as he was arrested after he left. Tim and Anne support their son and hope the matter is resolved soon,” she said to the Twin Cities Pioneer Press.
Kaine was charged the same day the New York Post revealed that police arrested a prominent Democratic leader, Jacob Schwartz, with ties to Hillary Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook, for child pornography charges, for allegedly having thousands of photos and videos of showing “young nude females between the approximate ages of 6 months and 16, engaging in sexual conduct… on an adult male” on his laptop.