Police want to speak to a prominent Trump supporter and her male companion over an alleged incident in which a woman was pepper-sprayed and racially abused in central London.
Officers believe the man and woman, identified as Make America Great Again supporter and PR executive Melissa Rein Lively, 40, and Philipp Ostermann, a venture capitalist, could have information that may help them with their investigation.
Rein Lively previously supported far right conspiracy theorists QAnon movement but has since publicly rejected their views.
She is the founder of the America First public relations agency that provides ‘anti woke’ services.
Appearing on Finding Q, a podcast investigating the QAnon movement, Rein Lively said that she was left suicidal after joining the group and the strain of the experience took ’20 years off her life’.
Rein Lively said: ‘I know it’s really easy to look at this on the face and say “these people are idiots”, but I’m telling you this is some of the most well produced, well written things that were very plausible, and I realise there is a huge industry for conspiracy theories.
‘I absolutely call it a cult in every single way,’ she said. ‘It destroyed me completely, collapsed my world view and landed me in a psychiatric evaluation facility.
‘For me, being a successful person in my life, I never thought I would be in a situation like that and it was rock bottom.’
She recently said of Maga in an interview with AFP: ‘It’s so much bigger than politics. It’s friendships, it’s relationships.’
Referring to what has been termed the ‘Maga look’ for women in the movement with long blonde hair and immaculate make-up she said: ‘That Maga look really signals you are on the same team.’
She said she sees President Trump’s daughter Ivanka and his daughter-in-law Lara as her role models.
‘By absolutely nobody’s volition other than my own do I spend two hours in the gym every day, get my hair done every three and a half weeks on the button, get my nails done, get my eyebrows done, get my skincare done, get Botox,’ she said.
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Rein Lively fought for the job of White House spokesperson for Trump’s second term before the President chose Karoline Leavitt in 2024.
Rein Lively was previously dubbed ‘Rolex Karen’ after footage of her destroying a display of face masks went viral.
BTP said the victim was walking into Bond Street Underground Station at 7.30pm on Saturday, October 11, when her pushchair collided with a woman walking ahead of her.
A man who was with the woman began shouting racial abuse at the victim, before the woman grabbed her hair, according to the British Transport Police (BTP).
When the victim, who was with her two children and her sister, tried to defend herself, the man pulled out a small bottle and said it was pepper spray before spraying it in the family’s direction.
The woman then shouted more abuse and made lewd gestures at them before the pair left the area.
The BTP is making enquiries to confirm what the substance was. The family did not report any ill affects from it.
Rein Lively recently posted a picture on Instagram outside Sotheby’s on Bond Street, wearing the same outfit as the woman in the BTP photo, captioned: ‘With love from London’. She has since deleted her account.
Ostermann had been listed to speak at a private equity conference at the Syon Park stately home near Heathrow on October 14.
He was part of a panel discussion titled ‘Delivering operational resilience and drive growth through robust cash management’.
Ostermann is associate director of a Munich-based private equity firm called Aequita, with offices in Tokyo and South Carolina.
Anyone who with information is asked to text BTP on 61016, using the reference 413 of 12 October.
Information can be given anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Metro has asked both Mr Ostermann and Ms Rein Lively to comment.
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