DAVENPORT, Iowa- United States Attorney Marc Krickbaum announced Friday, that 20-year-old Brandon Tumause Owen, of Cedar Rapids, was indicted by a federal grand jury for one count of Unlawful Drug User in Possession of a Firearm, after he brandished an AR-15 rifle during a June protest in Iowa City.

According to public records, Owen was stopped on June 7, 2020, by Iowa City Police for a traffic offense. An impaired driving investigation was performed and indicated Owen was under the influence of marijuana. An AR-15 rifle was located inside Owen’s vehicle. Under federal law, it is illegal for an unlawful drug user to possess firearms.

According to Attorney Krickbaum, “Our Constitution protects everyone’s right to peacefully protest against injustice. It does not protect anyone’s  right to illegally carry and publically brandish an AR-15. We will prosecute those – including protestors – who commit federal gun crimes.”

After the indictment of Owen, FBI Omaha’s Special Agent in Charge Eugene Kowel said, “The FBI holds sacred the rights of individuals to peacefully exercise their First Amendment freedoms. When someone threatens the safety of peaceful protestors, we will step in to protect them.”

The case is part of Project Guardian (PG) and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), programs bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce gun crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. This matter is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Iowa City Police Department, and the Iowa Department of Public Safety. The case is being prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

(Radio Iowa) – Incumbent Republican Joni Ernst has been campaigning in northwest Iowa today (Friday) as part of her final push to win a second term in the U.S. Senate. During a stop in Sioux City, Ernst criticized her Democratic opponent Theresa Greenfield for not visiting each of Iowa’s 99 counties. “Can you believe that?” Ernst said and the crowd booed. “The Iowa people expect their elected representatives to show up and do their job.”

Ernst brought along a team of supporters, including two of her fellow senators. Texas Senator Ted Cruz told the crowd jammed into Woodbury County G-O-P headquarters that Ernst’s race will determine whether Republicans retain majority control of the U.S. Senate. “There are no moderate Democrats,” Cruz says. “Now, Theresa Greenfield — she may try to talk like she doesn’t believe any of this craziness, but a vote for her is a vote for Chuck Schumer, a vote for her is a vote for AOC and a vote for her is a vote to destroy the economy and the rights of millions of Iowans.”

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley held up a bottle of hand sanitizer and told the crowd packed into Woodbury County’s Republican Headquarters he was there to clean up some lies, like the claim in an ad that Ernst had voted four times to give herself a pay raise. “Senators have not had a pay raise since 2009 or 2010, whenever it was the last time,” Grassley says.

Ernst took office in 2014. Cruz, the winner of Iowa’s presidential caucuses in 2016, told the crowd Iowa is playing a pivotal role in the national election this year. “If the Democrats win Iowa, they’re going to raise your taxes — massively,” Cruz said. “If the Democrats win Iowa, they’re going to continue to shut down the economy and destroy small businesses across this county. If the Democrats win Iowa, they are going to jam through a Green New Deal that will destroy energy in the United States.”

Governor Kim Reynolds, who is also on the tour, joked that Cruz “would be in trouble” once she got coffee after the first bus tour stop. Cruz opposes the federal ethanol production mandate, but none of the other Republicans at the event brought that up.

(Radio Iowa) Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden was in Des Moines earlier this (Friday) afternoon to deliver his closing pitch to Iowans at a drive-in rally on the state fairgrounds. “It’s time for us to stand up, take back our democracy,” Biden said, as car horns blasted in response. “We can do this. We’re so much better than we’ve been.”

Biden accused the Trump Administration of a “weak and chaotic” China trade policy that has dealt set-backs to Iowa farmers and the biofuels industry. “Ethanol margins have tanked and Iowa’s manufacturing facilities are idle and even closing,” Biden said. Biden also brought up the 28 BILLION dollars in trade disruption payments the Trump Administration has provided farmers. “He says because of quote — his bailouts, our farmers do better now than when they actually had to farm,'” Biden said. “…Where’s this guy from? Who does he think he is?”

Biden said if elected, he’ll mobilize an international effort to address China’s trade abuses that have hit the nation’s farmers as well as U.S. manufacturers.  “I’m going to hold China, which he hasn’t from the pandemic on,” Biden said.  Biden brought his Trump’s critique of wind energy — and Trump’s claim wind turbines cause cancer —  “This is also a guy you may recall, the stable genius, who said the problem with the Revolutionary War was that we didn’t have enough airports,” Biden said. “And he talks about mental acuity? Whoa.”

The Biden campaign says 200 vehicles were parked around the state and another 125 were in a holding area nearby. This was Biden’s first visit to Iowa since his 4th place finish in the Iowa Caucuses. The Trump campaign announced the president will hold a rally in Dubuque on Sunday afternoon.