Incident details
- Date of incident
- June 14, 2025
- Location
- Los Angeles, California
- Targets
- Matt Gutman (ABC News)
- Assailant
- Law enforcement
- Was the journalist targeted?
- Yes
Assault
Correspondent Matt Gutman was pushed and berated by a Los Angeles Police Department officer while reporting for ABC News Live during a June 14, 2025, protest in Los Angeles, California.
ABC News correspondent Matt Gutman was pushed and berated by a police officer on live TV while covering a protest against the Trump administration in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 14, 2025.
The protest was one of more than 2,000 “No Kings” demonstrations held nationwide to counter a military parade attended by President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., marking the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army. It also followed days of protests in the city and nearby towns against recent federal raids, part of the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown.
Gutman was reporting live June 14 as the Los Angeles Police Department and other law enforcement agencies began aggressively clearing the streets of protesters.
An ABC News Live video posted by multiple social media users showed an LAPD officer — wearing a gas mask and other riot gear standing in a line of other officers — pushing Gutman and yelling at him for allegedly touching another officer.
“Now you’re pushing me on live television,” Gutman said to the officer. “We didn’t touch anybody, you know that’s true.”
“Tensions are extremely high here,” Gutman continued. “Yes, because you touched the officer,” the officer shouted.
“That was a moment that we haven’t experienced very often here,” Gutman added as the officer moved away. “I think that there has been respect between the media and law enforcement here. We have kept our distance.”
Another video from the ABC News Live feed posted on social media shows an officer forcefully pushing Gutman out of the way of a police line and the reporter’s hand appearing to grab the officer’s arm in response, seemingly to maintain his balance. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker could not confirm the timing of that incident.
The LAPD did not respond to a request for comment about the incident. In a statement on the social platform X, the department warned members of the media not to position themselves between a crowd and a police skirmish line, saying they could get caught between “rocks, bottles, thrown items, fireworks, and less-lethal munitions.”
Gutman and ABC News did not respond to requests for comment.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker catalogues press freedom violations in the United States. Email tips to [email protected].
