WASHINGTON — A federal judge said Tuesday she will allow defense attorneys to question an FBI agent about text messages she sent downplaying her injuries and disparaging a woman charged with assaulting her during an ICE arrest outside the D.C. Jail.

U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan said the text messages sent by FBI Agent Eugenia Bates were “highly relevant” to questions of bias attorneys for Sidney Lori Reid should be able to raise at trial.

“This case is going to turn on the credibility of these witnesses,” Sooknanan said.

In the text messages at issue, Bates called Reid a “libtard” and downplayed scrapes she received when Reid allegedly resisted attempts to restrain her after refusing to back away from ICE officers who were arresting two men being released from the D.C. Jail.

See Full Page