McIver appeared remotely from Washington as Congress is in session for the initial hearing, where she was officially notified of the two counts of assaulting, resisting and impeding an officer from the May 9 skirmish outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement-run facility called Delaney Hall.
The prosecutor’s complaint says McIver attempted to stop the arrest of Democratic Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and pushed into and grabbed agents for Homeland Security Investigations and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
McIver denied the charges and said she was carrying out her duty as a member of Congress to oversee a federal facility. The only words she spoke during the proceeding were “Yes, your honor,” responding to the judges questions, including if she had received the complaint against her.
A nearly two-minute clip released by the Homeland Security Department shows McIver on the facility side of a chain-link fence just before the arrest of the mayor on the street side of the fence. She and uniformed officials go through the gate, and she joins others shouting that they should circle the mayor. The video shows McIver in a tightly packed group of people and officers. At one point, her left elbow and then her right elbow push into an officer wearing a dark face covering and an olive green uniform emblazoned with the word “Police” on it.
A preliminary hearing, which the judge stressed would occur in person, was scheduled for June 11.
