NJ GOP congressman's former staffer charged in staged MAGA attack

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The US Attorney’s Office in the District of New Jersey announced Wednesday they had charged Natalie Greene, 26, “with conspiring and falsely reporting to law enforcement that she had been violently assaulted with a firearm due to her employment.” The name of her employer wasn’t included in the charging document, but The Handbasket has confirmed with his office that she previously worked for Congressman Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ). 

The details included in the charging document are equal parts disturbing and absurd. What was presented as a vicious anti-MAGA attack on Greene—a former Constituent Advocate Director for Van Drew—this past July is alleged to have been a total fiction staged by her and an unnamed co-conspirator. 

Local media reported on an assault at the Nature Reserve in Egg Harbor Township on July 23rd, but Greene was not named as the victim at the time. However a news release from Acting U.S. Attorney and Special Attorney Alina Habba (a notorious Trump loyalist) published Wednesday identified Greene as the supposed victim.

“When law enforcement officers located Greene, she was lying in a wooded area just off the trail, with her hands and feet bound together with black zip ties,” the news release reads. “Greene’s shirt was pulled over her head and was also tied with a black zip tie. Greene had numerous lacerations on her face, neck, upper chest, and shoulder.  The words ‘TRUMP WHORE’ were written on her stomach and the words ‘[Federal Official 1] IS RACIST’ were written on her back.” She also had lacerations on face, neck, chest and shoulder.

Federal Official 1 isn’t named in the release or the charging document, but it seems to refer to Greene’s former employer, Rep. Van Drew. 

“We are deeply saddened by today’s news, and while Natalie is no longer associated with the Congressman’s government office, our thoughts and prayers are with her,” a spokesperson said in a statement shared with The Handbasket. “We hope she’s getting the care she needs.”

Van Drew’s office told me Greene “hasn’t been with the office for months,” but didn’t specify a timeframe. I followed up to ask if Greene was working for him at the time of the incident but have not heard back.

Warning: Graphic images showing body modification work that’s supposed to look like lacerations below. 

A subsequent FBI investigation found that nearly every part of Greene’s story was a lie. The 911 call that led police to look for her in the woods was actually called in by her co-conspirator. There had never been any male attackers. A search of her co-conspirator’s phone found that she had googled “zip ties near me” two days before the attack. And zip ties were found in Greene’s car, a Maserati. But the origin of the lacerations is perhaps the most disturbing detail.

According to the charging document, “The search of Greene’s phone revealed a Reddit profile for Greene that included ‘followed communities’ for ‘bodymods’ and ‘scarification.’ A review of Greene’s Map history revealed that Greene obtained directions to a tattoo parlor/body modification/scarification artist located in Pennsylvania.” 

FBI agents visited the unnamed artist and he shared a copy of her receipt, plus Instagram messages he’d exchanged with Greene beforehand.

“In these messages, Greene inquired about the available types of scarification patterns, and Greene sent a photo to Individual 1 to show him the particular pattern of scarification she was interested in. Greene also asked Individual 1 about the level of pain that she could expect from the scarification procedure and the products that she could use to prevent bleeding after the procedure.”

Photos provided by the artist of his work matched the body markings photographed on Greene at the hospital after her supposed attack.

When the co-conspirator called 911 and the operator asked why she thought the men had attacked her friend, she told the operator the supposed attackers “were talking about politics, she works for [Federal Official 1]. They were like calling her like racist, calling her a whore, like like.” After the incident, Greene doubled down, telling a police officer that her office received “hate mail,” including a letter with “powder in it.” I’ve asked Van Drew’s office whether or not they received such mail.

There is precedent for staged incidents that are supposed to appear politically-motivated. 

Back in 2008, a volunteer for John McCain’s presidential campaign named Ashley Todd said that she’d been robbed, pinned to the ground and had a backwards letter “B” carved into her face. She lied and said her attacker was a Black man who noticed a McCain sticker on her car, assaulted her and said "you are going to be a Barack supporter.” Todd later admitted she’d completely fabricated the whole thing.

In 2015, a veteran in Texas named Scott Lattin reported his truck had been vandalized with “Black Lives Matter” graffiti in retaliation for the pro-police messages he had displayed. Police discovered Lattin had actually done the defacing themselves, potentially for insurance money. His wife and son were also implicated. 

In 2021, Congresswoman Nancy Mace (R-SC) reported her home had been vandalized by “Antifa vandals.” There was graffiti reading “All politicians are bastards” and an “A” with a circle around it—an anarchist symbol, not an antifascist one. There was speculation at the time that Mace may have done it herself, though it hasn’t been proven one way or another.

Greene’s motivations for the staged attack remain unclear and she hasn’t made any public statements since being charged. According to her LinkedIn page, she’s a student at Rutgers Law School. Her former boss Van Drew is probably best-known for being elected as a Democrat but switching to the Republican party in 2020 after objecting to Trump’s impeachment. At the time, Trump called him “very smart.”

In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s murder, there’s been a concerted effort by conservatives to paint liberals and progressives as supportive of political violence—despite little evidence. Seeing a conservative fabricate an attack like this—and mutilating her own body in service of the plan—suggests a different reality.