The U.S. Army has disputed a claim from Donald Trump’s campaign that nobody on his staff got physical with an employee of Arlington National Cemetery on Monday.
Instead, the military branch confirmed Thursday that a member of Trump’s staff “abruptly pushed” a woman employee after she sought to “ensure adherence” to cemetery rules that bars recording for political purposes.
The Army said the woman reported the incident to local cops but ultimately decided against pressing charges. It remains unclear who in Trump’s orbit did the alleged pushing.
The victim “pressing charges” is just a fancy way of saying reporting the crime. It’s not something that needs to happen for the prosecutor to file a criminal complaint. Though, in a case like this they would probably rely on the victim’s testimony, so there may not be a case if she doesn’t want to cooperate.
Yes, the state presses charges, or not. However, they will often take the victim’s desire to prosecute into consideration before doing so. But yes, you don’t press charges, the state does.