Ryan Fournier, the co-founder of Students for Trump, is facing criminal charges in a scheme to impersonate the U.S. Secret Service for claiming to be protecting him, court records obtained by USA TODAY show.
Jordan Daley, 35, was taken into custody after federal law enforcement accused Daley of using a fake Secret Service badge to pose as an agent. Daly reportedly said he planned to attend the UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House with a firearm. Fournier, 30, was also taken into custody in a separate incident.
At the time of his arrest, Secret Service agents were investigating Mr. Daley for allegedly impersonating a Secret Service agent on multiple occasions, and police were investigating Mr. Fournier for allegedly violating a court order by texting a woman in his Washington, D.C., apartment about assault.
According to Daly’s arrest warrant filed in the District of Columbia Superior Court, a tipster said Daly told a Secret Service agent on June 9 that “I’m the Secret Service…I’m going to protect Ryan.” A witness told Law Enforcement Daily that Fournier “is under the protection of the Secret Service and they plan to attend the UFC event with a gun.”
Secret Service agents arrest Ryan Fourier and Jordan Daly
According to additional affidavits in the case reviewed by USA TODAY, Secret Service agents stopped both men on June 12 as they emerged from an apartment in northwest Washington, D.C.
When Daly was taken into custody, he told investigators, “My badge is upstairs,” according to Daly’s arrest warrant.
Mr. Fournier then allowed the Secret Service to enter his apartment, where he claims they found his badge, according to the affidavit.
The two men claimed that Daley, who court records show is from Pottstown, Pennsylvania, was an agent assigned to protect Mr. Fournier in order to impress or intimidate people, including Uber drivers, strip club employees and other employees at the apartment complex where Mr. Fournier lived, according to court documents.
Daly was charged with impersonating a police officer and taken to jail. He is scheduled to appear in court again on July 9 to be arraigned, according to online records.
Fournier was jailed for contempt of court and was scheduled to appear in court again on July 7.
USA TODAY has reached out to Fournier and Daley’s attorneys for comment.
What do students mean to Trump?
Students for Trump is a grassroots organization with 300 chapters across the United States, according to its website.
“During the 2020 election cycle, Students for Trump successfully held multiple Super Saturday rallies that had a significant impact on turnout in key constituencies,” according to the group’s page. Each event draws more than 200 students, knocks on more than 20,000 doors, and is said to have more than 50 million people participating online.
Fournier was previously arrested on suspicion of domestic violence.
On May 25, the Metropolitan Police Department responded to a report of a domestic violence incident at an apartment complex.
According to court documents filed in the case, the woman told police at the scene that she was in a relationship with Fournier and was visiting him when she found him “visibly intoxicated” on the floor of his apartment.
The woman told police that when she tried to wake the man up, he “started shaking his fist at her and punched her in the face with a closed fist two or three times.”
When asked if any threats were made during the incident, the woman allegedly said Fournier would “kill everyone in here,” court papers go on to say.
Police arrested Fournier in connection with the incident, and on May 26, Fournier pleaded not guilty to charges of misdemeanor simple assault and attempted threat to injure, according to court records. He is scheduled to appear in court again in connection with the case on July 7.
Natalie Neisa Alland is a senior reporter at USA TODAY. Contact her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her at X @nataliealund.
