Trump took office on Jan. 20, 2025, this fellows phone was taken and searched on Jan. 24, 2025.
Do you really imagine that in those first few hours of his brand-new administration the Trump administration was focused on this particular Cop City Protester?
The subject was most likely placed on the terror watch list by the previous administration, not the 4 day old Trump administration.
Agree or disagree with his inclusion on the terror watch list, agree or disagree with the reason his phone was searched, the bottom line is that he caused the destruction of his phones contents to prevent the federal agents from seeing what he did or didn't have on the phone, and that is a crime.
He's not charged with violent protesting, arson, doxing officials, etc, he's charged with destroying evidence:
The case, which had its first hearing on Monday, centers on a little-known US federal statute that makes it a crime to destroy property in an effort to prevent it from being seized.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us...