The interim police chief in the nation’s capital is declining to address details of a 235-person mass arrest Friday during President Donald Trump's inauguration as it becomes clear that some journalists were booked alongside activists.

So far, seven journalists have been identified as being among the 230 adults charged with felony rioting, which carries a maximum 10 years in prison and a large fine.

Peter Newsham told U.S. News he could not confirm that he ordered the mass arrest and said that he could not comment on why some journalists were charged while at least four others were allowed to leave a large penned-in group.

“There were no, in my opinion, arrests of any demonstrators or protesters,” Newsham says. “The people who were arrested on Friday were rioters and they were charged."

The arrests followed a chaotic chase through the streets of downtown Washington during which windows were smashed and projectiles flung at police, who responded with generous amounts of pepper spray and flash-bang grenades before penning in part of the anti-capitalism march.

Some members of the mostly black-clad march evaded police, court charging documents acknowledge. Many journalists and legal observers wearing green hats, meanwhile, were shoved with batons into the group that ultimately was arrested.

After about an hour, two employees of a local NBC station, one independent journalist and one U.S. News reporter were allowed to leave the cordon. The NBC staff were told their boss had called a lieutenant’s superior.

Newsham repeatedly told U.S. News he could not discuss details of events leading to the mass arrest, citing an ongoing criminal investigation and civil litigation filed Friday on behalf of a legal observer claiming wrongful arrest.

The chief sidestepped some questions. Asked if he believed any arrestees were acting as journalists, he said, “I told you already, there were journalists who were identified who were not arrested.”

Asked if “all of the journalists who were identified” were not arrested, he said: “Now you’re getting into details of the arrest again and I asked you several times respectfully not to ask those questions, so I don’t know what to tell you.”

Newsham suggested he would not personally intervene to request that the U.S. attorney’s office drop felony charges against arrested journalists and legal observers. A spokesman for that office said Tuesday it was working with police to review evidence.

“As the chief of police, would I be personally involved in a criminal investigation? Is that what you’re asking me?” he responded. “Generally, I can tell you I personally don’t get involved in criminal investigations.”

Arrested journalists include Alex Rubinstein of RT and Evan Engel of Vocativ, who say they identified themselves to police. Aaron Cantu, who has written for Vice and Al-Jazeera America, also was charged.

Independent journalists Alexei Wood and Matt Hopard streamed footage until their own arrests. Photojournalist Shay Horse, who covers social movements, was also arrested, as was documentary filmmaker Jack Keller, identified by The Guardian on Tuesday.

Newsham said he heard about, but had been unable to view, a well-circulated video that appears to show a stoop-backed older woman and a man on crutches pepper-sprayed.

“I have not seen that video,” he said. “I had heard of that video and when it was sent to me apparently it was taken down from social media and it has not recirculated since then. So if you have a copy, we’d love to see it.”

U.S. News emailed Newsham’s staff a link Tuesday evening to a journalists’ tweeted video of that encounter, shared about 30,000 times, but was not provided with the chief’s feedback.

Watch the footage:



DC police directly pepper spray elderly woman, disabled man. #J20 pic.twitter.com/UilWv2FYHb — Wilson Dizard (@willdizard) January 20, 2017

Newsham also declined to say if police have warrants to search the cellphones and cameras of arrestees. The department appears to have kept many if not all devices, and City Lab reported Tuesday that one arrestee may have discovered access to their Google account from their seized phone while it was held by police.

Newsham took over the Metropolitan Police Department in the nation’s capital in September upon the departure of longtime Chief Cathy Lanier, who accepted a job with the National Football League.

Newsham’s appointment was controversial among civil liberties advocates who pointed to his role ordering a mass arrest in 2002 that resulted in a raft of lawsuits against the city, the final of which – brought by four student journalists – was settled last year. Judges found Newsham’s justification for mass-arresting about 400 activists, journalists and bystanders in a park without first ordering them to disperse was “ludicrous.”

George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley, the prominent legal scholar who represented the student journalists in their long legal battle, told U.S. News that Newsham “showed appalling judgment” in 2002 “and little true regret after the mass arrest was found to have violated the constitutional rights of hundreds of people.”

Asked to address Turley’s characterization about a lack of remorse, the interim chief said: “Jonathan Turley, who is that? … I was at the Women’s March the other day and there were multiple folks who were movie stars and I didn’t recognize a lot of them, so I guess I don’t recognize him either.”

Newsham says he believes his department has improved over the years and learned from protest litigation and that it will continue to improve as it self-analyzes its conduct.