Ryan Fournier, the co-founder and chairman of the group Students for Trump, was arrested early Tuesday morning in Washington, D.C., after he allegedly assaulted and threatened a woman, according to documents obtained by Defector. The Metropolitan Police Department charged Fournier with simple assault and attempted threats to do bodily harm.
According to the affidavit, the incident occurred late Monday night at the Apartments at CityCenter, and the unnamed victim was a woman who said she had been dating Fournier for a couple of months, and was in town to visit him. In the victim's statement, she told police she tried to rouse an intoxicated Fournier, who had been passed out on the floor. When Fournier woke up, he "started swinging his fists at her and struck her in the face with a closed fist two or three times."
The victim also said that Fournier got on top of her as he hit her, and she needed to defend herself. She mentioned that Fournier had a knife at his side, but that he did not swing or point it at her. When police asked the victim if Fournier had made any threats during the incident, she said he said, "I'll kill everyone here," and added that he regularly makes statements of that nature.
According to one witness, who told police he was Fournier's roommate and friend, he was in another room when the victim yelled at Fournier to "get up." From the affidavit:
[Witness] reported that he heard [Fournier] screaming, "Don't touch me, woman!", "Do you want me to crush your head in with this lamp?". [Witness] returned to the office where [Fournier] was swinging a handheld vacuum around, screaming at [Victim]. [Witness] got between the two attempting to separate both parties. [Witness] said that he went to the bathroom and heard [Fournier] yelling, "Do you want to die today?" [Victim] ran into the bathroom, and according to [Witness], "looked like she had been punched in the face." [Witness] called 911, and [Fournier] left the apartment, during this time [Victim] said to [Witness], "Don't let him stab me."
The victim and witness hid in the bathroom while they called 911. According to them, Fournier left the apartment and returned roughly half an hour later.
A second witness, who was present during the alleged assault and also unnamed in the affidavit, relayed a similar account in his statement, but said that he left the apartment before police arrived.
According to the D.C. Superior Court docket, Fournier appeared at an arraignment hearing Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges. The court imposed a pretrial stay-away order on Fournier, and an initial hearing was scheduled for July 7.
On his website, Fournier describes himself as a commentator and podcast host. In 2015, he co-founded Students for Trump, a group which aimed to grow the youth vote for Donald Trump. Ahead of the 2020 presidential election, right-wing activist Charlie Kirk's organization Turning Point USA leased the web domains and social media accounts of Students for Trump to expand its reach, and Kirk briefly chaired the movement with a goal of getting 1 million voters. In 2023, Students for Trump split with TPUSA; these days, its social media accounts primarily post news attacking Democrats and the left, with what it describes as an "anti-woke" perspective. This past September, Fournier doxxed and falsely accused a Wisconsin elementary school principal of celebrating Kirk's death, leading to her and her school getting hundreds of threats and harassing messages. He then gave what she called a "half-assed" apology.
The other co-founder of Students for Trump, John Lambert, was not long for the game. In 2019, he pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud, and in 2021, a judge sentenced him to 13 months in prison. According to the Associated Press, Lambert had used an alias on the internet to present himself as an attorney, bilking "at least six individuals and corporations" out of thousands of dollars. At the time, Lambert's lawyer said Fournier was a co-conspirator, but he cooperated to avoid prosecution. The lawyer also said that Lambert had been inspired by the television show Suits.
Defector made multiple calls to phone numbers listed for Fournier and his attorney, Santia McLaurin, but neither responded. Update (10:02 a.m. ET): McLaurin declined to comment when reached by email.
Although Fournier avoided the fraud case, he has his own legal history. In November of 2023, he was arrested on domestic violence charges in North Carolina after he allegedly struck his then-girlfriend with a pistol. He was charged with domestic assault on a female and assault with a deadly weapon; those charges were dropped at a court hearing that December. He was also charged with driving under the influence in North Carolina in 2021, but his lawyer got most of the charges dismissed a year later. Public records show a similar DWI charge in 2024, for which he was convicted on Feb. 5, 2026, and received 12 months of probation.
The day after his arrest, Fournier was back to using his Twitter account to support Trump's policies. "ICE should never pull back," he tweeted at 12:59 a.m. ET on Wednesday. "Arrest, and deport. Let our officers have the power that they need to get rid of these degenerates from our country."
Tom Ley contributed additional reporting.
