A woman who briefly helped far-right influencer Jake Lang escape an angry crowd in Minneapolis has said she had no idea who he was when she allowed him into her car and asked him to leave as soon as she learned his identity.The incident took place on Saturday in Minneapolis, where Lang was chased and beaten by counter-protesters.
Jake Lang was being beaten because he led a small anti‑Islam, anti‑Somali and pro‑ICE demonstration in Minneapolis that drew hundreds of opposing counter‑protesters who overwhelmed his rally and confronted him physically.Daye Gottsche, who was travelling as a passenger with a friend, said they stopped at a red light when they saw a man who was bleeding and being pursued by a large crowd.
🇺🇸 Unbelievable.
The trans person who gave Jake Lang a ride while he was bleeding and injured by protesters did not know who Jake was.
As soon as they found out who he was, they told him to get out of the car immediately.
“Please know that we do not support this man and we do…
https://t.co/6Dn6DzTnYD pic.twitter.com/bUbrRLpmgy
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) January 18, 2026
“So we stopped and all of a sudden this bloody man that I had never seen before just walks up to our car and is like begging us to let him in. Like he’s in need of help,” Daye said.The women allowed Lang into the vehicle, but the situation became tense. Daye said a large group of people surrounded the car, attacked Lang and damaged the vehicle.“They trying to pull him out of and damaged the car’s taillight,” she said.As the crowd closed in, Daye said she began to panic. “Once they surrounded, I remember looking back at him, and I was like, ‘What the f— did you do?’” she recalled. She added: “I was in the front seat like, ‘Oh, help, like I don’t know this man.’”Daye said that after some people attempted to open the rear doors to kick Lang, some others created a path allowing the car to drive away. The women drove for about two blocks before deciding they would not go any further after knowing the ideology of Lang.“We made it very clear we do not support the type of man he is,” Daye said.She added that during the short ride, Lang made comments praising US President Donald Trump. “The only commentary that he would say is like, Trump saved his life, and that he was, ‘a bad boy.’ And it’s like the cringiest thing I think I’ve actually ever heard anybody say in my life.”The woman then parked the car, and Lang got out before entering another vehicle.Daye said she later faced backlash for protecting Lang, so she had to make a video responding to questions about supporting a far-right influencer. She explained how Lang was only helped out of human concern and safety.“Honestly, I’ve kinda gotten a lot of support overall,” she said.Daye added that no matter what a person thinks, violence is not the option and that the government will use this attack as an excuse to crackdown on Minneapolis: “I feel like, you know, obviously this is a bad man, like not someone that we agree with and not someone we want in our state, but us giving him the kind of attention that he got yesterday and us, you know, getting violent and aggressive, is not the answer because that’s what our federal government wants so that they can, you know, put in place the Insurrection Act.”The incident comes amid heightened political tension in Minnesota. President Donald Trump has said invoking the Insurrection Act to deploy the US military remains an option if state leaders fail to call off anti-ICE protests. The protests in Minnesota against ICE became worse after a federal agent shot an unarmed woman earlier this month in ‘self-defence.’ Go to Source
