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Feds Drop Riot Charges Against Three More Journalists

Arrested while covering Inauguration Day protests.

The U.S. Attorney's office in D.C. has dropped felony riot charges against three journalists who were arrested while covering inauguration day protests. Independent journalist Matthew Hopard, documentary producer John Keller, and RT reporter Alexander Rubenstein were cleared of the riot charges they faced after being arrested while reporting on the January 20 protests. At least six journalists were arrested during the event, sparking fears of a crackdown on the press. Evan Engel, a senior producer at Vocativ, also had his riot charges cleared last week. "After a review of evidence presented to us by law enforcement, we have concluded that we will not proceed with the charges against the three defendants, who are journalists," reads the attorney's orders. "We are continuing to work with the Metropolitan Police Department to review evidence related to the arrests on Jan. 20. As in all of our cases, we are always willing to consider additional information that people bring forward. Because these matters remain pending in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, we have no comment on other specific individuals beyond our public filings. The charges against these three individuals have now been dismissed."