Newark Mayor Ras Baraka sued New Jersey's top federal prosecutor on Tuesday over his arrest on a trespassing charge at a federal immigration detention facility, saying the Trump-appointed attorney had pursued the case out of political spite.
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00:00My firm filed a lawsuit in federal district court on behalf of North Mayor Raz Baraka
00:06against Alina Haba, the interim United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, and
00:12Ricky Patel, the head of investigations for the Department of Homeland Security, individually.
00:20The complaint charges that Haba and Patel, acting outside their authority as government
00:26officials, violated Mayor Baraka's constitutional rights by falsely arresting him and maliciously
00:33prosecuting him for events that took place at Delaney Hall in Newark on May 9th.
00:39I just want to say this is not about revenge or not about me going after individuals because
00:47I think they've wronged me specifically, ultimately I think this is about them taking accountability
00:54for what has happened to me.
00:56When people see me in cups, they automatically believe I did something wrong, I was guilty,
01:01you know, that I deserved to be in jail, that they caught me finally, that all this other
01:04kind of stuff, foolishness.
01:06And the reality is, I didn't do anything.
01:08I went down there for a press conference.
01:10I was invited inside of a gate.
01:12People approached me.
01:13They were very loud and abusive to me.
01:16I left the gate, finally, after they told me to get out.
01:19I walked out of the gate.
01:20They allowed me to walk out of the gate.
01:22I walked out of the gate, they made a decision to change their mind based on a call or whomever
01:27they got it from.
01:28And they ran out of the gate and arrested me there, right?
01:31And threw a couple of the witnesses or bystanders on the ground in the process.