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‘CatsOnACouch’ Creator Sues Trump Administration Over Alleged Vance Event Ban
Amanda McGonigle, the creator behind the satirical Instagram account @catsonacouch, has sued the Office of the President and the Secret Service, alleging she was barred from Vice President JD Vance events in retaliation for her online criticism of him.
McGonigle, 37, filed the lawsuit on July 7 with representation from the ACLU. She alleges that armed Secret Service agents stopped her from entering a May 14 event in Bangor, Maine, where Vance was speaking about the administration’s initiatives to combat healthcare fraud. According to the lawsuit, agents told her, “We know where you stand,” before denying her entry.
McGonigle runs @catsonacouch, an account with nearly two million followers that she describes as existing “purr-ly to troll the current administration.” She launched it in 2024 after Vance referred to Kamala Harris and other Democrats as “childless cat ladies” in 2021, a comment he later called “one of the dumbest things I ever said” in his memoir, “Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith.” The account has targeted Vance with recurring bits, including memes and mock “Wanted” posters, and McGonigle also uses it for mutual aid efforts with followers she calls her “petty besties.”
The lawsuit states McGonigle followed all advance guidance issued by the Executive Office of the President and received confirmation from Vance’s office along with event materials bearing the White House seal, only to be turned away at the venue. She says this was not an isolated incident: she was previously blocked from attending a Vance event in Iowa after registering but never receiving confirmation.
“It’s absurd that the Secret Service is wasting its time tracking a satirical cat account on social media,” McGonigle said in a statement released by the ACLU.
The suit asks the court to bar the administration from excluding McGonigle from future Vance appearances, arguing there is “a credible threat” she will continue to face exclusion or even criminal charges without intervention. She has said she intends to keep attending Vance’s public events and expressing her views as an attendee.
ACLU of Maine staff attorney Anahita Sotoohi said in a statement that “the First Amendment cannot be revoked just because one of the country’s most powerful people can’t take a joke.”
Source: NBC News
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