TPUSA contributor and independent journalist Savannah Hernandez was attacked last week for covering an anti-ICE protest in Minneapolis. It was an appalling attack on the free press, but it's nothing new for the Left. They routinely attack independent journalists covering their riots, including Andy Ngo, Nick Sotor, and others.
And it's not the only way the Left wages war on a free, independent press. In California, the Democrats are trying to criminalize investigative journalism because Nick Shirley exposed a widespread Medicare hospice fraud scheme in the state. Imagine what Democrats could do if they spent as much time going after fraudsters as they do attacking the people exposing the fraud.
But I digress.
I'm old enough to remember when President Trump's mean tweets were considered an unprecedented, appalling attack on the free press. Those same people were utterly silent about the attacks on Ngo, Hernandez, and Sotor, of course, because that's (D)ifferent.
Some of the people who attacked Hernandez were identified as the Ostroushko family, and specifically Chris Ostroushko and his daughter, Paige. Paige was seen on video blowing a loud whistle in Hernandez's ear, which is assault and illegal, and Chris was captured shoving Hernandez violently to the ground. They were both arrested.
Despite this plethora of evidence, Ostroushko is saying his family really isn't violent, and that they're the victims here.
Minnesota dad who shoved Turning Point USA journo at anti-ICE protest says family is 'absolutely not violent' https://t.co/oAqJlpd2TN pic.twitter.com/LsRJsYG2px
— New York Post (@nypost) April 17, 2026
A Minnesota father caught on camera shoving conservative reporter Savanah Hernandez to the ground during a chaotic anti-ICE protest says he was defending his wife and daughter and insists his family is “absolutely not violent.”
“We are absolutely not violent people. In fact, we tend to shy away from it,” Chris Ostroushko told podcast host Brian Shapiro in his first interview since the viral incident.
“In fact, that day, you’ll see I was not even up in the front at all during this whole event. I just stayed back and kind of watched what was going on,” he added.
...
“I would just say if I hit them first, it would be on camera,” Hernandez said. “There’s multiple angles of Paige walking up to me as I’m standing by myself. And also her mom is the first person who came up to start harassing me.”
Hernandez said DeYanna Ostroushko was “pressing her body up against me and shoving me multiple times,” while “her husband then shoved me from behind and started screaming in my ear.”
Remember, all of this was caught on camera. Here's Chris Ostroushko most definitely not being violent:
"Absolutely not violent" pic.twitter.com/nxXIXgF5Ft
— Tiffanie Tx (@tiffanie_tx) April 17, 2026
Pushing a woman to the ground from behind is not "non-violent."
Remember, the confrontation is caught on video. What happened is splashed across the Internet for all of us to see, and the Left insists this family did nothing wrong.
Here's Paige blowing a whistle in Hernandez's ear.
This is now the second time I have been mobbed and assaulted for filming a protest on U.S. streets.
— Savanah Hernandez (@Savsays) April 11, 2026
Today these Minneapolis protesters were chanting that they were “ANTIFA” and proved it, by mobbing and beating me for reporting on a public protest: pic.twitter.com/EOhyg9AFME
But this offers another great insight into the minds of the Left. Several years ago, the Left demanded body cameras on all law enforcement officers. They were convinced the body cams would prove there was a systemic violence and racism problem in the nation's police departments. Instead, the public got to see the dangerous, unhinged, and violent many of the people police encounter actually are. It's backfired so badly on them that Leftists now want to roll back the use of body cameras.
They had crafted a narrative that was undermined by reality. In the same way, the Ostroushko family is crafting a victim narrative that video footage wholly contradicts.
The saddest part of all is that the Ostroushko family probably genuinely believes what they did was not violent because the Left believes their actual acts of violence are "free speech" (while they claim conservative speech is actually violence). They look at the world through the lens of oppressor-oppressed, and anyone they deem oppressed is justified in using violence as a form of "resistance." That same twisted logic applies if you're a so-called "ally" of these Leftist causes.
They also believe if they play the victim card — claiming Hernandez was the aggressor, and that they've received threats from others — they'll gain sympathy and be absolved of their wrongdoing. I'm sorry, but in no world is a tiny woman like Hernandez the aggressor against a 200-plus-pound man. Ever.
Chris and Paige Ostroushko were arrested and are facing charges. Hennepin County will let them walk, but a federal investigation might not. Nor should it.
