Ryan Fournier, the co-founder of Students for Trump, is facing a seven-count indictment in Washington, DC, after prosecutors accused the prominent pro-Trump activist of assaulting his girlfriend, threatening multiple people and attempting to influence witnesses.
Fournier, 30, has pleaded not guilty to every charge and is being held without bond ahead of an Oct. 8 trial before DC Superior Court Judge Carmen McLean.
The case began with an alleged confrontation inside Fournier’s downtown Washington apartment on the night of May 25.
Prosecutors allege Fournier had been drinking and was lying unconscious on the floor when his girlfriend, whom he had been dating for roughly two months, attempted to wake him.
According to the government’s account, Fournier allegedly responded by swinging at the woman, striking her arms, pulling her hair and knocking her to the floor.
Prosecutors further allege that Fournier climbed on top of the woman and struck her in the face at least twice before taking out a switchblade and holding it at his side.
“You’re going to die tonight,” Fournier allegedly told her, according to a Sept. 1 court filing obtained by the Daily Mail.
Prosecutors acknowledge that Fournier did not raise the knife toward the woman, but allege he possessed it after the assault while making the death threat.
Police were called to the residence during the early hours of May 26.
An arrest affidavit alleged Fournier shouted, “I’ll kill everyone here,” while another witness described him swinging a handheld vacuum and threatening to crush someone’s head with a lamp.
Fournier was initially arrested on misdemeanor counts of simple assault and attempted threats to do bodily harm. Contemporary reporting on the arrest also described allegations that the woman had been punched several times and that Fournier had a knife during the confrontation.
He pleaded not guilty and was released on his own recognizance with an order prohibiting him from contacting the alleged victim.
The case subsequently expanded significantly.
Prosecutors allege Fournier contacted the woman after his release and later attempted to persuade other people to support a self-defense account in which his girlfriend was portrayed as the aggressor.
According to the Sept. 1 filing, Fournier asked a female associate on June 8 to contact police and claim that his girlfriend had attacked him.
The woman allegedly refused, telling Fournier she had not been present during the incident and did not want to provide false information to law enforcement.
Prosecutors allege Fournier then threatened her, claiming he could use political connections to have her deported or arrange for someone to kill her if she spoke negatively about him.
He also allegedly approached her with what she believed was an M-16 rifle, which investigators later determined was a replica.
The woman allegedly waited about 20 minutes before attempting to leave because she feared Fournier might attack her.
When she tried to go, prosecutors claim Fournier grabbed her wrists, pushed her onto a bed and pinned her down with his knee before she escaped.
Four days later, Secret Service agents arrested Fournier outside his building for allegedly violating the no-contact order by texting the woman at the center of the original assault case. Reporting at the time confirmed Fournier was detained separately while agents were also investigating his roommate, Jordan Daley, for allegedly impersonating a Secret Service agent.
Fournier’s legal problems escalated again on July 1 when a grand jury returned a seven-count indictment.
The charges include two felony counts of threatening to kidnap or injure a person, two felony obstruction-of-justice counts, felony contempt and two misdemeanor simple-assault counts, according to court records cited in the filing.
A judge ordered Fournier held without bond the following day.
The Sept. 1 filing also contains allegations from a former girlfriend who dated Fournier for several years before their relationship ended in 2025.
Prosecutors say the woman provided investigators with a photograph allegedly showing Fournier pointing a firearm toward her in 2020.
She further accused Fournier of striking her with glass objects during incidents in 2021 and approximately one year later, along with another alleged assault at a Florida hotel.
Those accusations have not resulted in convictions, and prosecutors are seeking permission to introduce the allegations as evidence in the current Washington case. Judge McLean has not yet ruled on that request.
Fournier was previously arrested in North Carolina in November 2023 after a girlfriend accused him of grabbing her arm and striking her forehead with a handgun. Axios reported at the time that he was charged with assault on a female and assault with a deadly weapon.
Those charges were dismissed the following month, and Fournier was never convicted in that case.
Fournier co-founded Students for Trump while attending Campbell University in 2015, eventually helping build the organization into a network reportedly encompassing hundreds of college chapters, per the Daily Mail.
Turning Point USA later leased the organization’s web domains and social media accounts, with Fournier eventually splitting from the organization in 2023.
Fournier has roughly one million followers on X and has remained a visible conservative social media personality.
His personal X account has continued publishing posts despite Fournier being held in the DC jail for more than two months, according to the report.
Prosecutors have reportedly given Fournier until Sept. 11 to accept a plea agreement offered last month. If no agreement is reached, his trial remains scheduled for Oct. 8.
