Antifa attacked and robbed our reporter Katie Daviscourt — help us fight back!
Our reporter Katie Daviscourt was attacked by Antifa this weekend.
Katie was reporting on a “drag queen story hour,” where a transgender activist reads stories to children in a local pub. (That’s Seattle these days.)
Some protesters were there, opposed to what they called an inappropriate sexualization of children. But more than 100 Antifa thugs were there too — acting as a kind of “security” force for the drag queen.
When they saw Katie, they swarmed her and assaulted her, and stole her cell phone (which she was using as her camera).
The assault and robbery were awful. But something else was appalling, too: other journalists from the mainstream media just stood there, doing nothing. In fact, when Katie asked them if she could borrow their phones to call 9-1-1, they literally refused!
Luckily, another independent journalist named Jonathan Choe was there, and he helped Katie by letting her call the police from his phone.
Police were also nearby, but they didn’t dare come close to Antifa, for fear of “provoking” them. It really is the law of the jungle over there.
Apparently, police have a surveillance video of the scene and we’ve asked to see the footage in case the perpetrator can be identified. But these are cowardly Antifa: they wore masks long before the pandemic, to hide their identities while they commit crimes.
But we can’t let this stand. So we’ve got a five-point plan to fight back:
1. Professional security
We can’t let Antifa stop Katie from doing her journalism. So from now on, she’ll have a professional security guard go with her when she’s out in public. It’s atrocious — no journalist should have to go to such lengths but we must keep Katie safe.
And if she ever finds herself in an unsafe situation without a security guard, she knows she must leave — no story is worth being assaulted.
2. Getting police to investigate
Professional security will help us in the future. But we need justice for what happened over the weekend. Katie has filed a police report and a request to see the surveillance footage. We’re also hiring a local lawyer to assist Katie as she navigates the police bureaucracy — we want to make sure she doesn’t fall through the cracks, like so many crime victims do.
3. $500 reward for identifying the criminal
While we wait for the police to turn over the footage, we’re putting out a public reward for anyone who can identify the perpetrator — $500 in cash, confidentiality guaranteed. Antifa are criminals, but there is no honour amongst thieves — we hope one of them will snitch on the robber for cash. If you have any information regarding the criminal who attacked Katie fill out this form.*
4. Prosecution
If we can identify the perpetrator, either through surveillance footage or a tip from the public, our lawyer will press the District Attorney to prosecute to the full extent of the law. But we are worried that Seattle is a kind of sanctuary city for criminals, and the District Attorney will side with the criminals over a citizen journalist like Katie.
5. Civil suit
If that happens, we will file a civil lawsuit against the perpetrator. We’ve done it before in other jurisdictions where police or prosecutors refuse to act, and we’ve had some success. It’s not just about getting justice for Katie — it’s about sending a signal to the world: you cannot attack a Rebel News journalist with impunity.
If you can help, please do. We need to crowdfund security and lawyers, and even the $500 bounty for the tip line.
In the past, great journalists like Andy Ngo have had to face Antifa alone after they were assaulted. We can’t treat Katie that way. She’s the newest Rebel on the team, and we have to show her that we’ve got her back.
If you’re with us, please sign our petition to Stand With Katie. And if you can, please chip in to cover her security and legal fees on this page. It’s going to cost thousands of dollars to get justice for what happened to her this weekend — and to keep her safe in the future.