The Republican son of President Obama’s national-security adviser is dropping charges against the leftist student accused of assaulting him at a rally in the Stanford University free-speech area.
John David Rice-Cameron, whose mother is Benghazi-attack figure Susan Rice, is making the gesture as a step toward repairing the nation’s collapsing civility, the Stanford College Republicans wrote on their Facebook page.
“At Stanford as everywhere, civility must be restored. Although it is entirely within the legal rights of our president to press charges, he has decided to drop the charges in an expression of goodwill and in the hope that doing so will help [defuse] tension on campus,” SCR wrote.
The apparent assault by Melinda Hernandez was one of several attacks on an event supporting the nomination of Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court and was captured by students’ smartphones.
“She got in my face and proceeded to hit me in the chest area and push me back forcefully,” Mr. Rice-Cameron told the Stanford Daily newspaper at the time. “Nobody should be assaulted on campus, under any circumstances.”
SEE ALSO: John David Rice-Cameron, Susan Rice’s Republican son, assaulted at Brett Kavanaugh rally
Ms. Hernandez, a Stanford student, was arrested on battery charges by the campus police and the case referred to the local district attorney’s office.
She told the Stanford Daily that she merely touched Mr. Rice-Cameron without using force because he was recording her in a public place. She has since declined to comment further.
“We would hope that the student who assaulted our president last week will also do her part to contribute to a more respectful and civil Stanford, including by apologizing and acknowledging the right of all students to express their views peacefully,” the Republican group wrote Monday evening.
Ms. Rice, the mother of the assaulted student, is now expressing interest in running against Sen. Susan Collins, Maine Republican, in significant part over her vote to confirm Justice Kavanaugh.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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