Deep Steak: DOJ employee faces felony charges for throwing sandwich at federal agent

WASHINGTON (CN) — Justice Department officials on Thursday added another layer to Washington D.C.’s sandwich saga, after they revealed that the man facing federal charges for throwing a Subway footlong at a federal agent over the weekend had been an agency employee.

U.S. attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro announced Wednesday that her office had charged Sean Dunn, 37, with assault after a video circulated online which depicted him throwing the sandwich at a Customs and Border Patrol agent on patrol in the city’s northwest neighborhood Sunday night.

“He thought it was funny,” said Pirro in a video message posted to X on Wednesday evening. “Well, he doesn’t think it’s funny today, because we charged him with a felony.”

In addition to facing a federal assault charge, Dunn has apparently also been fired from his job — at the Justice Department. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement Thursday afternoon that she had learned the man now known as the “D.C. sandwich guy” had been an agency employee. “NO LONGER,” she wrote. “Not only is he FIRED, he has been charged with a felony.”

And the attorney general levied another accusation at Dunn.

“This is an example of the Deep State we have been up against for seven months as we work to refocus DOJ,” Bondi said of the sandwich sharpshooter. “You will NOT work in this administration while disrespecting our government and law enforcement.”

In their criminal complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for D.C., federal prosecutors said Dunn had yelled “obscenities” at the federal agent prior to throwing the offending sandwich. After the suspect was arrested, he told officers, “I threw a sandwich,” according to the complaint.

Prosecutors are seeking a conviction on a federal simple assault charge, a crime which carries a maximum penalty of eight years in prison.

Sunday’s sandwich strike came amid a growing string of demonstrations against federal law enforcement deployed to D.C. by President Donald Trump in an effort to curb what he has characterized as rampant crime in the nation’s capital.

In D.C.’s 14th Street neighborhood Wednesday night, protesters harangued federal agents and Metropolitan Police Department officers who had set up a checkpoint. Officers wearing masks stopped cars and made at least one arrest as onlookers yelled at them.

Trump on Monday federalized the D.C. police force, using a provision in the 1973 D.C. Home Rule Act which allows the president to take control of local police in an emergency. Though federal law says Trump can only take over the capital city’s police department for 30 days, he said Wednesday that he would seek to extend that authority.

“You can’t have 30 days,” he told reporters, adding that any extension would be “long-term” and suggesting that he could unilaterally renew his control over D.C. Metro Police without congressional approval.

Trump this week also deployed the National Guard to the capital, though their mission is limited to guarding federal property. Guard members have been spotted at the National Mall and Columbus Circle near D.C.’s Union Station.

The White House’s crackdown on crime in the capital city has also been used as a vehicle for Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to conduct raids on businesses across D.C.

Immigration authorities were spotted at a Home Depot in the city’s northeast quadrant on Tuesday, where they reportedly took as many as a dozen people into custody.

And D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith on Thursday morning released an order which allowed police officers to assist federal immigration agents by informing them about people who are not in custody, such as subjects of traffic stops. Smith also ordered police to help ICE agents transport detained people.

D.C. is a sanctuary city, meaning that municipal agencies cannot detain people to assist immigration authorities.

Trump’s crackdown on crime in the nation’s capital comes despite statistics which show that D.C. is currently experiencing its lowest crime rate in decades. According to a January report from the U.S. attorney’s office in D.C., violent crime dropped 35% compared with 2023 rates, a 30-year low.

The White House, though, has accused D.C. officials of misreporting crime statistics and pointed to other studies suggesting that crimes in the capital city have become more likely to escalate to homicide.

Meanwhile, FBI Director Kash Patel said Thursday that the agency and law enforcement partners made 45 arrests overnight on Wednesday, including 29 related to immigration offenses. Among the charges handed down by federal authorities were possession of child sex abuse material, illegal firearms possession and drug trafficking, he said.

And at the bottom of that list of offenses: “Subway Sandwich Assault.”

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