A pro-Trump livestreamer in an Uncle Sam costume was arrested on the opening day of President Donald Trump's Great American State Fair, after three separate witnesses accused him of committing a lewd act in public while filming female acrobats performing on Washington's National Mall.
According to police documents, Gian Rachtelli, 54, was charged with one count of 'lewd, indecent, or obscene acts' after three witnesses independently reported him to law enforcement on 24 June 2026. The arrest, which unfolded in front of the Cirque Mechanics acrobatic show, has become a striking early controversy for an event that has faced challenges since its inception.
What The Police Record Shows
US Park Police were dispatched to the National Mall at approximately 15:50 after a separate law enforcement agency working the fair reported that witnesses had flagged a man behaving inappropriately during the acrobatics performance. Officers then interviewed three witnesses independently before establishing probable cause for an arrest.
The first witness told police they had been standing behind a man who was vaping and filming the female performers before placing his hand inside his trousers in what the witness believed was a sexual act. A second witness told investigators that the same man 'returned for the second show, and I saw him with his hand in his pants, likely doing what we all thought he was doing.'
A third witness told police they had been 'approached by a female member of the acrobat team who had noticed an older white male that was making her and other female performers uncomfortable.' The witness added: 'They informed me that they noticed him making lewd gestures in his pants (as if he was attempting to/masturbating) while they were performing.' The police incident report does not include any statement from Rachtelli in response to the allegations.
Body camera footage of the incident was recorded by the responding officer, though the report noted it had not yet been reviewed at the time of filing. Rachtelli has not made any public statement, and attempts to reach him for comment have not been met with a response.
🚨 A Republican livestreamer masturbated in front of female circus performers at Trump's State Fair.
— GOP Ls (@GOP__Ls) June 28, 2026
He has now been arrested and charged with committing an obscene act. pic.twitter.com/HK981tpiBr
Online Identity And The Interrupted Broadcast
Rachtelli is known online as 'Manny', a pro-Trump content creator who regularly livestreams at MAGA-aligned events. On the day of his arrest, he had been broadcasting live from the fairgrounds in his Uncle Sam costume. The livestream ended abruptly as police officers approached him on camera, with no audio recorded to capture the exchange. He has not broadcast since.
Online supporters moved quickly to his defence after word of the arrest circulated. Several insisted he could not have committed the alleged act while simultaneously conducting a live broadcast, and others characterised the charges as a politically motivated attempt to silence a MAGA voice. None of those claims have been supported by the police record or any publicly available evidence.
Here he is, digging through his pockets. We all knew he had shorts on under his overalls when we were watching this.
— jenn (@SaltNLightPNW) June 26, 2026
If someone on the ground saw this while he’s standing there live streaming, it could look weird.
He is innocent until proven guilty (he won’t be), and yet… pic.twitter.com/8LVxJDtH2N
A 'Nonpartisan' Fair Dogged By Boycotts
The arrest came at an event that had already accumulated a considerable catalogue of difficulties before a single exhibit opened. The Great American State Fair, organised by Freedom 250, a public-private partnership chaired by Trump with Vice President JD Vance as vice chairperson, bills itself as a nonpartisan celebration of America's 250th anniversary. That characterisation has been challenged repeatedly.
In the weeks before opening day, a string of performers publicly withdrew after learning of the event's ties to the Trump administration. Country star Martina McBride wrote in a public statement that she had been 'presented with an opportunity to perform at a nonpartisan event but that turned out to be misleading.' Rapper Young MC, Morris Day & The Time, Fab Morvan of Milli Vanilli, and Bret Michaels of Poison were among others who pulled out. Trump ultimately stepped in to headline the opening night rally himself, with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy delivering a partisan warm-up address in which he referred to the withdrawing artists using a profane pejorative.
At least ten state governments, including Oregon, Washington, Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, Illinois, North Carolina, Connecticut, and Hawaii, declined to send official delegations or state funding to the fair. Oregon Governor Tina Kotek's office stated publicly that the state would not participate due to both the cost of attendance and 'growing concerns that the event in Washington, D.C., is shaping up to be a more partisan affair than originally presented.'
FREE MANNY pic.twitter.com/J67vlciTGs
— 🔥 HALEY REPORTS 🔥 (@HaleyReports) June 25, 2026
Opening-Day Glitches And A War Over Crowd Size
Opening day brought further embarrassment when the fair suffered a power failure that knocked out refrigeration for food vendors and temporarily halted hot food preparation. Food pricing also drew sustained attention, with turkey legs reportedly selling for around $23 (approximately £17) and drinks priced as high as $9 (approximately £7).
Trump, in a post on Truth Social following his opening night rally, claimed attendance of at least 45,000 people. Independent on-the-ground reporting described a crowd that fell dramatically short of that figure, with one account placing attendance at just over 1,000 and describing the audience as thinning before the president's speech had concluded. The Washington Post noted that the crowd 'thinly covered an area about the length of the National Museum of American History, smaller than some summer outdoor movie screenings.' The fair is scheduled to run until 10 July 2026.
The arrest of Gian Rachtelli, Uncle Sam hat, livestream camera and all, is now one of the defining images from a fair that, in its opening days, has struggled to match its billed spectacle.
