A pro-Trump influencer and her financier boyfriend have been criminally charged in London following an alleged racist altercation in a subway station that left a family traumatized.
Melissa Rein Lively, who runs an "anti-woke" PR firm and once claimed she was a candidate for Donald Trump's press secretary, was charged with assault on Friday. Her boyfriend, Philipp Ostermann, a German investment banker, faces two racially aggravated public order charges and an additional public order offense.
The incident occurred in October when the couple allegedly collided with a stroller pushed by a woman entering a London Underground station with her family and two young children. According to police and reports from The Independent, Ostermann allegedly hurled racist slurs before deploying pepper spray—illegal in the UK—toward the family.
Lively is accused of grabbing one woman by the hair, shouting abuse, and making obscene gestures before the pair fled the station.
Lively has cultivated a large online following around her MAGA persona, boasting that her clients "own half of Palm Beach" while angling for a White House role. Ostermann works at a German investment firm.
The couple is scheduled to appear in court next week.