The man who was eventually freed after the Charlie Kirk shooting was jailed because of a Trump meme

The Intercept and CBS Nashville affiliate NewsChannel 5 protected Lexington police body camera footage that undermined Weems’ account. The footage made it clear that police did not understand why the Perry County Sheriff’s Office objected to Bushart’s Facebook post.

“So, I’m just going to be completely honest with you,” the cop told Boshart. “I really don’t know what they’re talking about. He just called me and said there were some disturbing posts….”

Bushart clarified that it was probably her Facebook posts, laughing at the notion that someone called the police to report her meme. The Lexington officer told Boshart he wasn’t sure “exactly what Facebook post they were referring to,” but “they said it was something suggestive of violence.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Bushart replied.

The police, who refused to even look at the Facebook post, told Bushart, “I don’t care. It’s not about me.” But the Lexington police officer’s indifference didn’t stop Boshart from arresting him, booking him and sending him to Weems County, where Boshart was charged “under state law enacted in July 2024” that makes threats against schools a Class E felony.

“Just to be clear, this is what they charged you with,” a Perry County Jail officer told Bushart — captured on video reviewed by The Intercept.

“At school?” Bushart asked.

“I don’t have a clue,” the officer replied with a laugh. “I just gotta do what I gotta do.”

“I used to be in Facebook jail, but now I’m really in it,” Boshart told him with a laugh.

The police knew that the meme was not a threat

Lexington police told The Intercept that Weems lied when he told local news outlets that forces were “coordinated” to give Bushart a chance to remove the post before he was arrested. Confronted with the body camera footage, Weems denied lying and claimed his investigator’s report must have been false, NewsChannel 5 reported.

Weems later admitted to NewsChannel 5 that “investigators knew the meme wasn’t about Perry County High School” and sought to arrest Bushart anyway, apparently hoping to “allay the fears of people in the community who misinterpreted it.” This is as close as Weems will come to apparently admitting that he intended to censor the post.