An American MAGA influencer has been charged with assault following an alleged incident at a London Underground station.
US national Melissa Rein Lively is charged with assault by beating while German national Philipp Ostermann, 37, is charged with two racially aggravated public order offences and a further public order offence, after an incident at Bond Street Underground station on the evening of October 11 last year, British Transport Police (BTP) said on Friday.
Rein Lively, 40, is the founder of an “anti-woke” PR firm called America First PR, according to her Instagram page. According to a court list, the charges against the pair relate to two alleged victims.
View 3 ImagesThe pair were caught on camera outside the tube station(Image: British Transport Police)
The first hearing for the case will be at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday May 19, police said. Police said the charges relate to an incident in 2025 when a woman was sprayed with suspected pepper spray. She was also allegedly racially abused and assaulted.
The woman, 34, had entered Bond Street Underground station with her sister and two children during the evening of October 11, the Mail reported. A BTP spokesperson confirmed previously that a probe was launched after the attack which took place after the women bumped into a couple.
The woman is said to have been with her sister and two young children, with one in a pushchair. A BTP spokesperson said then: “The man then began shouting racial abuse at the victim and her family, before the woman grabbed her hair.
View 3 ImagesRein Lively and Ostermann are due to appear in court next week(Image: Facebook)
“When the victim tried to defend herself, the man pulled out a small bottle and said it was pepper spray before spraying it in the direction of the victim and her family. The woman shouted abuse and made lewd gestures at them before both parties left the area.”
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Rein Lively previously applied for the White House press secretary position during Trump’s second term before being pipped to the post by Karoline Leavitt. She previously told Politico: “I’m a hair away from the White House. I do think I’m going to get it. My sphere of influence goes far beyond people who are paper pushers on the Trump campaign. I work with billionaires. My clients are – I can’t even name who I work with. They own half of Palm Beach.”
Arizona-based Rein Lively has spoken publicly of her support for Trump, saying she was showing her support with “her face” by adoptin gthe “MAGA look” of blonde hair, veneers and Botox. In 2020 she filemed herself destroying face masks in a shop during the Covid pandemic.
Ostermann, her boyfriend, is associate director of Aequita, a Munic-based private equity firm with offices in South Carolina and Tokyo.