Security guard who punched MAGA mom in viral video claims self-defense
The black security guard caught punching a pro-President Trump rioter outside the US Capitol — who was then publicly shamed by her teen daughter — said she’s been charged with assault over the caught-on-camera slug.
Ashanti Smith, 28, opened up about last Wednesday’s fracas, when MAGA enthusiasts descended on the nation’s capital, saying she punched Therese Duke in the face in self-defense.
“I feared for my life. I’m hearing, ‘Hang her, we’ll kill her, she deserves to die,'” Smith told WHUR radio station Thursday.
Viral video from Jan. 6 showed Smith, dressed in her security guard uniform and wearing a mask, surrounded by a crowd of rowdy protesters — and Duke reaching out to grab Smith’s phone.
That’s when Smith clocks Duke, who is white, right in the face.
“She kept trying to take my phone and take my mask off because I kept asking them to stay away from me, stop following me, and stop being so close in my personal area,” Smith said, adding that many in the maskless crowd were calling her the N-word and accusing her of being Antifa.
Smith, who was on break at the time, said she also believed the mob was trying to rob her, claiming a woman who was with Duke was trying to rummage through her pockets.
After the slug, the crowd could be seen shoving Smith toward a wall of police officers — prompting chaos to break out and officers to deploy pepper spray on the group.
Later that night, Smith said, she was arrested and charged with assault — despite claiming a police officer told her that she was the victim of a hate crime.
She was also suspended without pay from her job as her employer investigates the incident.
The Washington, DC-area resident has launched a GoFundMe to help pay legal fees and other expenses while she’s out of work. It’s reached more than $170,000 as of Thursday afternoon.
Duke’s 18-year-old daughter, meanwhile, mocked her mother over the beatdown — tweeting the video a day later with the caption, “hi mom remember the time you told me I shouldn’t go to BLM protests bc they could get violent…this you?”
The teen followed up with photos of her mother — including one of her bleeding heavily from the face — “for those that don’t believe it’s my mother.”