Make America Great Again Shooting Death Washington
'No Blame?' ABC News finds 54 cases invoking 'Trump' in connectedness with violence, threats, alleged assaults.
President Donald Trump insists he deserves no blame for divisions in America.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly distanced himself from acts of violence in communities beyond America, dismissing critics who signal to his rhetoric as a potential source of inspiration or comfort for anyone interim on fifty-fifty long-held beliefs of bigotry and hate.
"I remember my rhetoric brings people together," he said last yr, four days after a 21-year-onetime allegedly posted an anti-immigrant screed online and then allegedly opened fire at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, killing 22 and injuring dozens of others.
But a nationwide review conducted by ABC News has identified at least 54 criminal cases where Trump was invoked in directly connection with violent acts, threats of violence or allegations of attack.
After a Latino gas station attendant in Gainesville, Florida, was of a sudden punched in the caput by a white man, the victim could be heard on surveillance photographic camera recounting the attacker's own words: "He said, 'This is for Trump.'" Charges were filed but the victim stopped pursuing them.
When police questioned a Washington state man near his threats to kill a local Syrian-born man, the suspect told law he wanted the victim to "leave of my country," adding, "That's why I like Trump."
Reviewing police reports and court records, ABC News establish that in at least 12 cases perpetrators hailed Trump in the midst or immediate backwash of physically assaulting innocent victims. In another xviii cases, perpetrators cheered or defended Trump while taunting or threatening others. And in another 10 cases, Trump and his rhetoric were cited in courtroom to explicate a defendant's violent or threatening beliefs.
When three Kansas men were on trial for plotting to bomb a largely-Muslim apartment complex in Garden Metropolis, Kansas, one of their lawyers told the jury that the men "were concerned about what now-President Trump had to say about the concept of Islamic terrorism." Another lawyer insisted Trump had become "the vocalization of a lost and ignored white, working-class ready of voters," and Trump'south rhetoric meant someone "who would oft be at a 7 during a normal day, might 'go to 11.'"
Thirteen cases identified by ABC News involved violent or threatening acts perpetrated in defiance of Trump, with many of them targeting Trump's allies in Congress. But the vast bulk of the cases – 41 of the 54 – reflect someone echoing presidential rhetoric, not protesting it.
ABC News could not find a single criminal instance filed in federal or country court where an deed of violence or threat was made in the name of President Barack Obama or President George W. Bush.
The 54 cases identified by ABC News are remarkable in that a link to the president is captured in courtroom documents and police force statements, under the punishment of perjury or contempt. These links are not speculative – they are documented in official records. And in the majority of cases identified by ABC News, it was perpetrators themselves who invoked the president in connection with their case, not anyone else.
The perpetrators and suspects identified in the 54 cases are generally white men – as young as teenagers and every bit old as 75 – while the victims largely stand for an array of minority groups – African-Americans, Latinos, Muslims and gay men.
Federal police enforcement authorities have privately told ABC News they worry that – although Trump has offered public denunciations of violence – his statements have been inconsistent and Trump's style could inspire violence-prone individuals to take action against minorities or others they perceive to be confronting the president's agenda.
"Whatever public figure could have the effect of inspiring people," FBI Director Chris Wray told a Senate panel last year. "But remember that the people who commit hate fueled violence are non logical, rational people."
While asserting that "imitation" media coverage is exacerbating divisions in the state, Trump has noted that "a fan" of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders opened fire on Republican lawmakers playing baseball game in a Washington suburb two years ago. "Nobody puts ... 'Bernie Sanders' in the headline with the maniac," Trump said terminal year.
And, last year, Trump similarly insisted that the human being who fatally shot ix people in Dayton, Ohio, three days earlier "supported" Sanders and other liberal causes.
But there's no indication either of those shooters mentioned Sanders while launching their attacks, and no charges were always filed because they were both fatally shot during their assaults.
In addition, a president inhabits a unique position in America, with access to a special cracking pulpit. On Twitter, Trump currently has eighty.vii million followers – almost 7 times the number of Sanders followers.
In identifying the 54 Trump-related cases, ABC News excluded incidents of vandalism. ABC News also excluded many cases of violence – from attacks on anti-Trump protesters at Trump rallies to certain assaults on people wearing "Make America Keen Again" hats – that did not institute explicit ties to Trump in court records or police reports. Similarly, beingness a documented Trump supporter who committed an set on, even at a Trump-related location, would not exist enough to exist included if official records did not certificate a specific connection to Trump.
ABC News institute several cases where pro-Trump defendants were charged with targeting minorities, or where speculation online suggested the defendants were motivated by Trump, merely in those cases ABC News found no police records, court proceedings or other directly prove presenting a definitive link to the president.
In many cases of assault or threat, charges are never filed, perpetrators are never identified or the incident is never even reported to regime. And most criminal acts committed past Trump supporters or his detractors have cypher to do with the president. Only in 54 cases, court records and police reports indicated some sort of link.
Nevertheless, Trump has said he deserves "no blame" for what he called the "hatred" seemingly coursing through parts of the country. And he told reporters that he's "committed to doing everything" in his power to not let political violence "have root in America."
The White House did not respond to a request seeking annotate for this report.
Hither are the 54 cases identified by ABC News:
Aug. 19, 2015: In Boston, later on he and his brother beat a sleeping homeless human of Mexican descent with a metallic pole, Steven Leader, xxx, told police "Donald Trump was right, all these illegals need to exist deported." The victim, however, was not in the United States illegally. The brothers, who are white, ultimately pleaded guilty to several assault-related charges and were each sentenced to at least two years in prison.
Dec. 5, 2015: After Penn Land University educatee Nicholas Tavella, 19, was charged with "indigenous intimidation" and other crimes for threatening to "put a bullet" in a young Indian man on campus, his attorney argued in court that Tavella was just motivated by "a dear of state," non "hate." "Donald Trump is running for President of the U.s.a. maxim that, 'We've got to check people out more closely,'" Tavella's attorney argued in his defense. Tavella, who is white, ultimately pleaded guilty to ethnic intimidation and was sentenced to up to two years in prison.
April 28, 2016: When FBI agents arrested 61-year-one-time John Martin Roos in White Urban center, Oregon, for threatening federal officials, including and then-President Barack Obama, they constitute several pipage bombs and guns in his home. In the three months before his arrest, Roos posted at least 34 letters to Twitter about Trump, repeatedly threatening African Americans, Muslims, Mexican immigrants and the "liberal media," and in courtroom documents, prosecutors noted that the avowed Trump supporter posted this threatening message to Facebook a month earlier: "The establishment is trying to steal the election from Trump. ... Obama is already on a kill list ... Your [name] can be there too." Roos, who is white, has since pleaded guilty to possessing an unregistered explosive device and posting net threats against federal officials. He was sentenced to more than five years in prison house.
June 3, 2016: Subsequently 54-twelvemonth-quondam Henry Slapnik attacked his African-American neighbors with a knife in Cleveland, he told constabulary "Donald Trump will fix them considering they are scared of Donald Trump," according to police reports. Slapnik, who is white, ultimately pleaded guilty to "ethnic intimidation" and other charges. It's unclear what sentence he received.
Aug. 16, 2016: In Olympia, Washington, 32-year-old Daniel Rowe attacked a white woman and a blackness human with a knife afterward seeing them kiss on a pop street. When law arrived on the scene, Rowe professed to being "a white supremacist" and said "he planned on heading down to the next Donald Trump rally and stomping out more of the Black Lives Matter grouping," according to court documents filed in the case. Rowe, who is white, ultimately pleaded guilty to charges of attack and malicious harassment, and he was sentenced to more than than four years in prison house.
Sept. 1, 2016: The then-master of the Bordentown, New Jersey, law department, Frank Nucera, allegedly assaulted an African American teenager who was handcuffed. Federal prosecutors said the attack was part of Nucera'south "intense racial animus," noting in federal court that "within hours" of the assault, Nucera was secretly recorded maxim "Donald Trump is the final hope for white people." The sixty-year-former Nucera, who is white, was indicted by a federal grand jury on 3 charges, including committing a federal detest crime and lying to the FBI about the alleged assail. He was bedevilled of lying to the FBI, merely a jury deadlocked on the other charges, and then Nucera is now awaiting a second trial. He has pleaded not guilty.
September 2016: After 40-twelvemonth-onetime Mark Feigin of Los Angeles was arrested for posting anti-Muslim and allegedly threatening statements to a mosque'south Facebook page, his chaser argued in courtroom that the comments were protected past the First Amendment because Feigin was "using similar linguistic communication and expressing similar views" to "campaign statements from then-candidate Donald Trump." Noting that his client "supported Donald Trump," attorney Caleb Mason added that "Mr. Feigin'southward comments were directed toward a pressing issue of public concern that was a cardinal theme of the Trump campaign and the 2016 election generally: the Islamic roots of many international and U.S. terrorist acts." Feigin, who is white, ultimately pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of sending harassing communications electronically. He was sentenced to probation.
October. 10, 2016: Constabulary in Albany, New York, arrested 55-twelvemonth-old Todd Warnken for threatening an African-American woman at a local grocery store "because of her race," co-ordinate to a constabulary report. Warnken allegedly told the victim, "Trump is going to win, and if you don't like it I'm gonna beat your ass y'all n----r," the police study said. He ultimately pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in the case and completed a local "restorative justice program," allowing the charges confronting him to exist dismissed, according to the district chaser'southward part.
Oct. 13, 2016: After the FBI arrested three white Kansas men for plotting to bomb an apartment complex in Garden City, Kansas, where many Somali immigrants lived, one of the men's attorneys insisted to a federal judge that the plot was "self-defensive" because the three men believed "that if Donald Trump won the election, President Obama would non recognize the validity of those results, that he would declare martial law, and that at that point militias all over the land would have to step in." Then, later a federal grand jury convicted 47-year-old Patrick Stein and the 2 other men of conspiracy-related charges, Stein'south chaser argued for a lighter judgement based on "the backdrop" of Stein's actions: Trump had go "the phonation of a lost and ignored white, working-grade set of voters" like Stein, and the "climate" at the time could propel someone like Stein to "go to 11," attorney Jim Pratt said in court. Stein and his two accomplices were each sentenced to at to the lowest degree 25 years in prison.
Nov. three, 2016: In Tampa, Florida, David Howard threatened to fire down the firm adjacent to his "only because" it was being purchased past a Muslim family unit, according to the Justice Department. He later said under oath that while he harbored a years-long dislike for Muslims, the circumstances effectually the habitation sale were "the match that lit the wick." He cited Trump's warnings almost immigrants from majority-Muslim countries. "[With] the fact that the president wants these six countries vetted, everybody vetted earlier they come over, there's a concern virtually Muslims," Howard said. Howard, who is white, ultimately pleaded guilty to a federal civil rights violation, and the 59-yr-old was sentenced to eight months in prison house.
November. 10, 2016: A 23-year-old homo from High Springs, Florida, allegedly assaulted an unsuspecting Hispanic man who was cleaning a parking lot outside of a local food shop. "[H]east was suddenly struck in the dorsum of the caput," a police force report said of the victim. "[The victim] asked the suspect why he hitting him, to which the suspect replied, 'This is for Donald Trump.' The suspect then grabbed [the victim] past the jacket and proceeded to strike him several more times," according to the report. Surveillance video of the incident "completely corroborated [the victim's] account of events," police force said. The doubtable was arrested on bombardment charges, but the case was dropped later on the victim decided not to pursue the affair, police force said. Efforts by ABC News to reach the victim for further caption were non successful.
November. 12, 2016: In Yard Rapids, Michigan, while attacking a cab driver from Eastward Africa, 23-year-old Jacob Holtzlander shouted racial epithets and repeatedly yelled the word, "Trump," according to law enforcement records. Holtzlander, who is white, ultimately pleaded guilty to a accuse of ethnic intimidation, and he was sentenced to 30 days in jail.
Nov. 16, 2016: Police in San Antonio, Texas, arrested 32-year-erstwhile Dusty Paul Lacombe later on he and a companion assaulted a blackness man at a convenience store. According to a constabulary report, Lacombe "stepped out of a vehicle and walked to the [victim] and stated he was a Trump supporter and swung at him several times." The victim "was punched in the face several times," the police force study said. When constabulary arrived, Lacombe – who "smelled strongly of alcohol" – "stated something about Trump and admitted to fighting with [the victim]," the law written report noted. Lacombe was charged with misdemeanor assail and ultimately received "deferred adjudication," which is akin to probation. Lacombe ultimately pleaded "no contest" to the charge and was granted "deferred adjudication" with a $450 fine.
Jan. 3, 2017: In Chicago, four young African-Americans -- sisters Brittany and Tanishia Covington, Jordan Loma and Tesfaye Cooper -- tied up a white, mentally disabled homo and assaulted him, forcing him to recite the phrases "F--k Donald Trump" and "F--k white people" while they broadcast the assault online. Each of them ultimately pleaded guilty to committing a hate criminal offence and other charges, and three of them were sentenced to several years in prison.
Jan. 25, 2017: At JFK International Airport in New York, a female Delta employee, wearing a hijab in accordance with her Muslim organized religion, was "physically and verbally" attacked by 57-year-old Robin Rhodes of Worcester, Mass., "for no credible reason," prosecutors said at the time. When the victim asked Brown what she did to him, he replied: "You did nothing, but ... [Expletive] Islam. [Expletive] ISIS. Trump is here now. He will become rid of all of you." Rhodes ultimately pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of "menacing," and he was sentenced to probation.
February. 19, 2017: Later 35-year-old Gerald Wallace chosen a mosque in Miami Gardens, Florida, and threatened to "shoot all y'all," he told the FBI and police that he fabricated the call because he "got angry" from a local TV news written report about a terrorist act. At a rally in Florida the twenty-four hours earlier, Trump falsely claimed that Muslim refugees had just launched a terrorist attack in Sweden.
Lookout man WALLACE'S INTERVIEW WITH THE FBI AND POLICE:
Wallace's attorney, Katie Carmon, later on tried to convince a federal judge that the threat to kill worshippers could be "protected speech" due to the "very distinctly political climate" at the time. "In that location are courts considering President Trump'due south travel ban ... and the president himself has made some very pointed statements about what he thinks about people of this descent," Carmon argued in court.
HEAR CARMON'S REMARKS IN COURT:
Wallace, who is African American, ultimately pleaded guilty to obstructing the complimentary exercise of his victims' religious behavior, and he was sentenced to one year in prison.
Feb. 23, 2017: Kevin Seymour and his partner Kevin cost were riding their bicycles in Fundamental West, Florida, when a man on a moped, 30-year-old Brandon Davis of North Carolina, hurled anti-gay slurs at them and "intentionally" ran into Seymour'south bike, shouting, "You live in Trump country now," according to law reports and Davis' chaser. Davis ultimately pleaded guilty to a charge of bombardment evidencing prejudice, simply in court, he expressed remorse and was sentenced to four years of probation.
May iii, 2017: In South Padre Island, Texas, 35-yr-sometime Alexander Jennes Downing of Waterford, Connecticut, was captured on cellphone video taunting and aggressively budgeted a Muslim family, repeatedly shouting, "Donald Trump will end you!" and other Trump-related remarks. Law arrested downing, of Waterford, Connecticut, for public intoxication. It's unclear what came of the charge.
May 11, 2017: Authorities arrested Steven Martan of Tucson, Arizona, after he left three threatening messages at the function Rep. Martha McSally, R-Ariz. In ane message, he told McSally he was going to "accident your brains out," and in another he told her that her "days are numbered." He later told FBI agents "that he was venting frustrations with Congresswoman McSally's congressional votes in support of the President of the United States," according to charging documents. Martan'south attorney, Walter Goncalves Jr., later told a judge that Martan had "an booze problem" and left the messages "afterward becoming intoxicated" and "greatly upset" by news that McSally "agreed with decisions past President Donald Trump." Martan, 58, has since pleaded guilty to 3 counts of retaliating against a federal official and was sentenced to more than than 1 year in prison.
May 23, 2017: George Jarjour and his brother, Sam Jarjour, were getting gas at a station in Bellevue, Washington, when 56-year-old Kenneth Sjarpe started yelling at them to "go back to your land," according to a constabulary report. Sjarpe then collection his truck toward the brothers, rolled downward his window, and declared, "F--k you, you lot Muslims," and "I'll f---ing kill you," the police report stated. When police officers interviewed Sjarpe the next twenty-four hour period, according to the study, he "became blithe and his vocalization got louder every bit he started talking about how he hated those people… [especially] Iranians, Indians and Eye Easterners." And, the study recounted, "He said he supports Trump in keeping them out." A calendar week subsequently, Sjarpe threatened another homo at a local business, yelling, "I detest foreigners," according to a law report. He was arrested days after. Sjarpe ultimately pleaded guilty to ane count of malicious harassment and was sentenced to vi months backside confined.
Oct. 22, 2017: A 44-year-former California homo threatened to kill Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., for her frequent criticism of Trump and her promise to "take out" the president. Anthony Scott Lloyd left a voicemail at the congresswoman's Washington part, declaring: "If you proceed to brand threats towards the president, yous're going to air current up expressionless, Maxine. Cause we'll kill you lot." Subsequently pleading guilty to 1 count of threatening a U.S. official, Lloyd asked the judge for leniency, saying he suffered from habit-inducing mental illness and became "far also immersed in listening to polarizing political commentators and engaging in heated political debates online." His lawyer put information technology this way to the judge: "Mr. Lloyd was a voracious consumer of political news online, on television and on radio … [that are] normally viewed as 'right wing,' unconditionally supportive of President Trump, and fiercely critical of anyone who opposed President Trump's policies." The judge sentenced Lloyd to six months of house abort and three years of probation.
Feb. 21, 2018: A federal m jury in Washington, D.C., indicted a erstwhile U.S. diplomat – William Patrick Syring, threescore, of Arlington, Virginia – on several counts for threatening employees of the Arab American Plant. He had previously served nigh a yr in prison for threats he made in emails and voicemails to the same organization in 2006, just before long afterwards serving his time he began emailing the arrangement again. In January 2017, a calendar week after Trump was inaugurated, Syring sent one email maxim: "It's time for ethnic cleansing of Arabs in America. Elections have consequences. President Trump will cleanse America of [AAI President James] Zogby … and all Arab American terrorists." Within months, he began sending particularly "charged" rhetoric that constituted "a truthful threat" – and emails like the 1 from January 2017 reverberate the blazon of language that was "office and packet of" his threats, prosecutors said in courtroom documents. In May 2019, a federal jury convicted Syring on all 14 counts against him, including seven hate-law-breaking charges and seven interstate-threat charges. He was sentenced to five years in prison.
March 1, 2018: The FBI arrested 24-year-old Daniel Frisiello of Beverly, Massachusetts, for sending envelopes with white powder to at least five politically-charged locations around the country. One of those envelopes was addressed to "Donald Trump Jr." in New York, and it included a typed alphabetic character stating, "Y'all are an awful, awful person, I am surprised that your father lets you speak on Tv." Trump Jr.'southward then-married woman received and so opened the letter. The FBI ultimately determined Frisiello was responsible for a rash of threatening letters sent to diverse public servants since 2015. In 2016, Frisiello sent white pulverization to Trump'southward family in what federal authorities called "a bid to persuade [Trump] to drop out of the presidential race." Frisiello then sent white pulverization to Trump Jr. in early 2018 "because of the victim'due south connection with his father," federal authorities said. Frisiello ultimately pleaded guilty to 13 federal counts of mailing a threat. He was sentenced to 5 years' probation, including one year of habitation confinement, after fifty-fifty prosecutors best-selling there were "unique circumstances concerning Mr. Frisiello'due south mental and emotional conditions," as they said in court documents.
April 6, 2018: The FBI arrested 38-year-quondam Christopher Michael McGowan of Roanoke, Virginia, for allegedly posting a series of Twitter threats against Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., over several months. In one posting in December 2017, McGowan wrote to Goodlatte: "I threatened to kill yous if you help Trump violate the constitution," according to charging documents. In some other alleged post, the self-described Regular army veteran wrote: "If Trump tries to burn [special counsel Robert] Mueller I WILL make an attempt to execute a citizens arrest confronting [Goodlatte] and I will kill him if he resist." In subsequent statements to police, he said he drinks also much, was "hoping to get someone's attention over his concerns well-nigh the current condition of our country," and did not actually intend to harm Goodlatte, court documents recount. A federal thousand jury has indicted McGowan on one count of transmitting a threat over state lines, and it's unclear if he has entered a plea as he awaits trial.
June eight, 2018: Federal authorities arrested Nicholas Bukoski of Anne Arundel County, Maryland, for threatening to kill Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, and Sen. Kamala Harris, D-California. "Yous wouldn't want to exist caught off guard when I employ my second amendment protected firearms to rid the world of y'all," Bukowski wrote to Sanders via Instagram on March, 24, 2018. 2 minutes afterwards, he wrote to Harris proverb he will "make sure you and your radical lefty friends never get dorsum in power … considering you won't make it to see that day." At a mental treatment facility before long after his arrest, he said, "He was watching the news and social media, which made him want to send the threats. He stated that he was frustrated with liberals and he is very supportive of the current president," court documents signed by Bukoski recount. Other court documents describe Bukoski's criminal by unrelated to politics, including a series of arsons he committed in 2017 and early 2018 and an armed robbery he committed in Jan 2018. In the near recent instance involving threats to lawmakers, he ultimately pleaded guilty to ane count of transmitting interstate threats and was sentenced to six months in prison house.
July 6, 2018: Martin Astrof, 75, approached a volunteer at the entrada function of Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-North.Y., in Suffolk County, New York, and "state[d] he was going to impale supporters of U.S. congressman Lee Zeldin and President Donald Trump," co-ordinate to charging documents. Astrof was arrested and ultimately pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment. He was sentenced to 1 yr of probation.
August 2018: Later the Boston Globe called on news outlets around the country to resist what it called "Trump's set on on journalism," the Boston Earth received more than than a dozen threatening phone calls. "Y'all are the enemy of the people," the alleged caller, 68-twelvemonth-old Robert Chain of Encino, California, told a Boston Globe employee on Aug. 22. "As long as you lot go along attacking the President, the duly elected President of the Usa ... I will continue to threat[en], harass, and annoy the Boston Globe." A week after, regime arrested Chain on threat-related charges. After a hearing in his case, he told reporters, "America was saved when Donald J. Trump was elected president." Chain has pleaded guilty to 7 threat-related charges, and he is pending sentencing.
October. 4, 2018: The Polk County Sheriff's Part in Florida arrested 53-year-onetime James Patrick of Wintertime Haven, Florida, for allegedly threatening "to kill Autonomous office holders, members of their families and members of both local and federal law enforcement agencies," co-ordinate to a police report. In letters posted online, Patrick detailed a "plan" for his attacks, which he said he would launch if and so-nominee Brett Kavanaugh was not confirmed as a Supreme Court justice, the law study said. Seeking Patrick's release from jail later on his arrest, Patrick'southward attorney, Terri Stewart, told a approximate that her client'southward "rantings" were akin to comments from "a certain loftier-ranking official" -- Trump. The president had "threatened the North Korean people -- to accident them all up. It was on Twitter," Stewart said, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Patrick has been charged with making a written threat to kill or injure, and he has pleaded non guilty. His trial is pending.
Late October 2018: Over the grade of a calendar week, Florida man Cesar Sayoc allegedly mailed at least xv potential bombs to prominent critics of Trump and members of the media. Sayoc had been living in a van plastered with pro-Trump stickers, and he had posted several pro-Trump letters on social media. Federal prosecutors accept accused him of "domestic terrorism," and Sayoc has since pleaded guilty to 65 counts, including use of a weapon of mass destruction. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. "We believe the president's rhetoric contributed to Mr. Sayoc's behavior," Sayoc's chaser told the guess at sentencing.
Oct. 21, 2018: While Bruce M. Alexander of Tampa, Florida, was flying on a Southwest Airlines flying from Houston, Texas, to Albuquerque, New Mexico, he assaulted a woman by "reaching around the seat" in forepart of him and "offensively touching" her, he acknowledged in court documents. When federal authorities and so arrested him, he "stated that the President of the U.s. says it's ok to take hold of women past their private parts," an FBI amanuensis wrote in courtroom documents. Alexander ultimately pleaded guilty to a federal misdemeanor count of simple assault and was sentenced to two days backside confined.
Nov. iii, 2018: Police in Tucson, Arizona, arrested 42-year-old Daniel Brito of Rockville, Maryland, on a robbery charge after he allegedly stole a Tucson man'south "Make America Great Again" hat and punched the victim several times. When a law officer responded to the scene, Brito told the officer, "I saw this guy with a Trump lid walk by and think about, 'Yous know what, f--thou him," according to a police written report. Brito later told two other officers that he believed the victim was a "Neo-nazi Jew hater" because the victim supported Trump, another law study said.
Dec. four, 2018: Michael Brogan, 51, of Brooklyn, New York, left a voicemail at an unidentified U.South. Senator'due south role in Washington insisting, "I'm going to put a bullet in ya. … Yous and your constant lambasting of President Trump. Oh, reproductive rights, reproductive rights." He later told an FBI agent that before leaving the voicemail he became "very aroused" by "an net video of the Senator, including the Senator'due south criticism of the President of the United states as well as the Senator's views on reproductive rights." "The threats were made to discourage the Senator from criticizing the President," the Justice Department said in a afterward printing release. Brogan has since pleaded guilty to one count of threatening a U.S. official, and he is pending sentencing.
January. 17, 2019: Stephen Taubert of Syracuse, New York, was arrested by the U.S. Capitol Police for threatening to impale Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and for threatening to "hang" former President Barack Obama. Taubert used "overtly bigoted, hateful linguistic communication" in his threats, according to federal prosecutors. On July twenty, 2018, Taubert chosen the congresswoman's Los Angeles function to say he would find her at public events and kill her and her entire staff. In a letter to the judge just days earlier Taubert's trial began, his defense attorney, Courtenay McKeon, noted: "During that time period, Congresswoman Waters was embroiled in a public feud with the Trump administration. … On June 25, 2018, in response to Congresswoman Waters' public statements, President Trump tweeted: 'Congresswoman Maxine Waters, an extraordinarily depression IQ person, has … just called for harm to supporters … of the Make America Great Again movement. Be careful what you wish for Max!'" As McKeon insisted to the judge: "This context is relevant to the case." A federal jury ultimately convicted Taubert on 3 federal charges, including retaliating against a federal official and making a threat over state lines. He was sentenced to about four years in prison house.
Jan. 22, 2019: David Boileau of Vacation, Florida, was arrested by the Pasco Canton Sheriff'south Function for allegedly burglarizing an Iraqi family's home and "going through" their mailbox, co-ordinate to a police report. After officers arrived at the dwelling house, Boileau "made several statements of his dislike for people of Middle Eastern descent," the report said. "He besides stated if he doesn't go rid of them, Trump will handle it." The police force written report noted that a day before, Boileau threw screws at a vehicle exterior the family unit's business firm. On that day, Boileau allegedly told constabulary, "We'll become rid of them one way or another." Boileau, 58, has since pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of trespassing, and he was sentenced to ninety days in jail.
Feb. 15, 2019: The FBI in Maryland arrested a Marine veteran and U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant, Christopher Paul Hasson, who they said was stockpiling weapons and "espoused" racist and anti-immigrant views for years every bit he sought to "murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country." In courtroom documents, prosecutors said the 49-year-old "domestic terrorist" compiled a "hit listing" of prominent Democrats. Two months later, while seeking Hasson'south release from jail earlier trial, his public defender, Elizabeth Oyer, told a federal judge: "This looks similar the sort of list that our commander-in-chief might have compiled while watching Fox News in the morning time. … Is it legitimately frustrating that offensive linguistic communication and ideology has at present become role of our national vocabulary? Yeah, it is very frustrating. Just … information technology is difficult to differentiate it from the random musings of someone similar Donald Trump who uses similar epithets in his everyday linguistic communication and tweets." Hasson ultimately pleaded guilty to federal weapons-related charges, and he was sentenced to more than 13 years in federal prison.
Feb. fifteen, 2019: Constabulary in Falmouth, Massachusetts, arrested 41-year-former Rosiane Santos subsequently she "verbally assault[ed]" a man for wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat in a Mexican restaurant and then "violently push[ed] his head down," according to constabulary reports. Obviously intoxicated, "she stated that [the victim] was a 'motherf----r' for supporting Trump," ane of the responding officers wrote. "She besides stated that he shouldn't exist allowed in a Mexican restaurant with that." Santos was in the United States unlawfully, federal regime said. Police arrested her on charges of "elementary assail" and disorderly deport. She has since admitted in local court that there are "sufficient facts" to warrant charges, and she has been placed on a form of probation.
Feb. 25, 2019: An 18-twelvemonth-old educatee at Edmond Santa Fe High Schoolhouse in Edmond, Oklahoma, was captured on cellphone video "confronting a younger classmate who [was] wearing a 'Make America Smashing Once more' hat and carrying a 'Trump' flag," co-ordinate to a printing release from the local school system. "The [older] student then proceeds to grab the flag and knock the lid off of his classmate'due south caput." The 18-year-onetime pupil was charged in local court with assault and battery, according to Edmond Metropolis Attorney Steve Murdock. The student has since pleaded guilty and was placed on probation, Murdock added.
March 16, 2019: Anthony Comello, 24, of Staten Island, New York, was taken into custody for allegedly killing Francesco "Franky Boy" Cali, the reputed head of the infamous Gambino crime family. Information technology marked the first mob boss murder in New York in 30 years, law enforcement officials told ABC News the murder may accept stemmed from Comello's romantic human relationship with a Cali family fellow member. Court documents since filed in land courtroom by Comello's defence force chaser, Robert Gottlieb, said Comello suffers from mental defect and was a believer in the "conspiratorial fringe right-wing political group" QAnon. In addition, Gottlieb wrote: "Commencement with the election of President Trump in November 2016, Anthony Comello'southward family began to observe changes to his personality. … Mr. Comello became certain that he was enjoying the protection of President Trump himself, and that he had the president's full back up. Mr. Comello grew to believe that several well-known politicians and celebrities were actually members of the Deep State, and were actively trying to bring well-nigh the destruction of America." Comello has been charged with one count of murder and 2 counts of criminal possession of a weapon. His trial is awaiting, and he has pleaded not guilty.
April 5, 2019: The FBI arrested a 55-year-former man from upstate New York for allegedly threatening to kill Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., one of the first two Muslim women elected to the U.Southward. Congress. She is an outspoken critic of Trump, and Trump has frequently launched public attacks against her and three other female lawmakers of color. Two weeks earlier his arrest, Patrick Carlineo Jr. allegedly called Omar'due south office in Washington labeling the congresswoman a "terrorist" and declaring: "I'll put a bullet in her f----ing skull." When an FBI agent then traced the call to Carlineo and interviewed him, Carlineo "stated that he was a patriot, that he loves the President, and that he hates radical Muslims in our regime," according to the FBI agent's summary of the interview. Federal prosecutors charged Carlineo with threatening to assault and murder a United States official. He has since pleaded guilty to the accuse and was sentenced to i year in prison.
Apr 13, 2019: 27-year-sometime Jovan Crawford, of Gaithersburg, Maryland, and 25-yr-old Scott Roberson Washington, D.C., assaulted and robbed a black man wearing a scarlet "Make America Groovy Again" hat while walking through his suburban Maryland neighborhood. Before punching and kicking him, "The ii suspects harassed [the victim] nigh the hat and asked why he was wearing it. [The victim] told them he has his own beliefs and views," according to charging documents filed after their arrest by Montgomery County, Maryland, law. Crawford later received a text message noting that, "They jumped some trump supporter," the charging documents said. Crawford and Roberson have since pleaded guilty to set on charges. They were each sentenced to at least one year in prison.
April 18, 2019: The FBI arrested John Joseph Kless of Tamarac, Florida, for calling the Washington offices of three prominent Democrats and threatening to kill each of them. At his home, government found a loaded handgun in a backpack, an AR-fifteen rifle and hundreds of rounds of armament. In later pleading guilty to one charge of transmitting threats over state lines, Kless admitted that in a threatening voicemail targeting Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., he stated: "Yous won't f---ing tell Americans what to say, and you definitely don't tell our president, Donald Trump, what to say." Tlaib, a vocal critic of Trump, was scheduled to speak in Florida iv days later. Kless was awaiting sentencing. In a letter to the federal judge, he said he "made a very big mistake," never meant to hurt anyone, and "was way out of line with my language and attitude." Kless was sentenced to one year behind bars.
April 24, 2019: The FBI arrested 30-twelvemonth-erstwhile Matthew Haviland of Due north Kingstown, Rhode Island, for allegedly sending a series of violent and threatening emails to a college professor in Massachusetts who publicly expressed back up for ballgame rights and strongly criticized Trump. In one of 28 emails sent to the professor on March x, 2019, Haviland allegedly chosen the professor "pure evil" and said "all Democrats must be eradicated," insisting the country now has "a president who's taking our country in a place of more freedom rather than less." In another email the same day, Haviland allegedly wrote the professor: "I will rip every limb from your body and … I volition impale every member of your family." According to courtroom documents, Haviland's longtime friend later on told the FBI that "inside the last twelvemonth, Haviland'due south views regarding abortion and politics accept get more extreme … at to the lowest degree in role because of the fashion the news media portrays President Trump." Haviland has since pleaded guilty to charges of cyberstalking and transmitting a threat in interstate commerce. He is pending sentencing.
June v, 2019: The FBI arrested a Utah man for allegedly calling the U.Southward. Capitol more than 2,000 times over several months and threatening to kill Democratic lawmakers, whom he said were "trying to destroy Trump'south presidency." "I am going to take upward my 2nd subpoena correct, and shoot y'all liberals in the head," 54-year-old Scott Brian Haven allegedly stated in one of the calls on Oct. 18, 2018, according to charging documents. When an FBI agent afterward interviewed Oasis, he "explained the phone calls were made during periods of frustration with the style Democrats were treating President Trump," the charging documents said. The FBI visit, however, didn't end Haven from making more threats, including: On March 21, 2019, he called an unidentified U.S. senator's office to say that if Democrats refer to Trump equally Hitler again he volition shoot them, and two days later he called an unidentified congressman's part to say he "was going to take [the congressman] out … because he is trying to remove a duly elected President." A federal thousand jury has since charged Haven with one count of transmitting a threat over state lines. Oasis has since pleaded guilty to ane count of transmitting a threat over state lines. He was sentenced to time served.
Aug. 3, 2019: A gunman opened burn down at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, killing 22 people and injuring 24 others. The FBI labeled the massacre an human activity of "domestic terrorism," and police determined that the declared shooter, 21-yr-quondam Patrick Crusius, posted a lengthy anti-immigrant diatribe online before the assault. "Nosotros aspect that manifesto directly to him," according to El Paso law principal Greg Allen. Describing the coming attack every bit "a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas," the screed'south writer said "the media" would "blame Trump's rhetoric" for the assail just insisted his anti-immigrant views "predate Trump" -- an credible acknowledgement that at to the lowest degree some of his views align with some of Trump'southward public statements. The writer began his online essay by stating that he mostly "back up[s]" the previous writings of the homo who killed 51 Muslim worshippers in New Zealand before this twelvemonth. In that instance, the shooter in New Zealand said he absolutely did non support Trump every bit "a policy maker and leader" -- merely "[a]s a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose? Sure." Crusius has been charged with upper-case letter murder by the state of Texas.
Aug. 16, 2019: The FBI arrested Eric Lin, 35, of Clarksburg, Maryland, for sending threatening and detest-filled messages over Facebook vowing to kill a Miami-area woman and "all Hispanics in Miami and other places," as the Justice Department described it. Over two months, the adult female received 150 pages' worth of messages from Lin, the FBI said. In June 2019, Lin allegedly wrote: "In 3 short years your entire Race your unabridged civilisation will perish simply then after I kill your [epithet] family will I allow you lot to Die by Hanging on Metal Wire." A calendar month later, on July xix, 2019, he allegedly wrote: "I Thank God everday President Donald John Trump is President and that he will launch a Racial War and Crusade to go on the n----rs, S---s, and Muslims and any dangerous non-White or Ethnically or Culturally Foreign group 'In Line.'" On his Facebook business relationship, Lin says he "Studied at Trump University," and he repeatedly praises Trump for, among other things, "fomenting racial hatred" and "Making Racism Ok Over again." At the same time, a few of his posts seem to praise Democrats and minorities. In January, Lin pleaded guilty to 1 count of transmitting a threatening advice. He has however to exist sentenced.
Aug. 21, 2019: Nathan Semans of Humphreys County, Tennessee, was arrested by state constabulary enforcement for allegedly emailing a threat to a local TV station that demanded the station broadcast a certain story. "Look if yous don't run story I'thou going to state capital letter to blow someone'due south brains out," the email stated. The email then added in role: "I don't look proficient at the moment cause the tyranny of what trump did … I'k sick of this nonsense and bologna hanging around that trumps [sic] the perfect American, hallelujah against Trump." Semans has been charged with one count of making terrorist threats, and his trial is pending. It's unclear if he has entered an initial plea.
Oct. seven, 2019: A woman driving in Moorhead, Minnesota, called police after 27-year-old Joseph Schumacher of North Dakota allegedly rolled downwardly his window and "began yelling at the female person expressing his dislike for the political bumper sticker [she] had displayed on her car," according to police reports. Schumacher then allegedly pointed to the "Trump Pence" bumper sticker on his own vehicle "and farther expressed his divergence in national political views" earlier "brandishing a pistol" within his vehicle, law said. Schumacher was ultimately arrested on three misdemeanor charges, including disorderly behave that could "reasonably agitate alarm." He ultimately pleaded guilty to the disorderly bear charge and a "gross misdemeanor" charge of carrying a weapon without a permit. He was sentenced to a year backside bars.
Oct. 25, 2019: The FBI arrested Jan Peter Meister of Tucson, Arizona, for threatening to kill House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff, D-California. Three weeks earlier, he left a voicemail at Schiff's office in Washington, D.C, promising to "accident your brains out." Co-ordinate to court documents filed in the case, Meister told FBI agents that "he strongly dislikes the Democrats, and feels they are to blame for the country's political issues." In other courtroom documents, Meister'southward attorney, Bradley Roach, noted that the charge his client ultimately accepted "involves threats of injury of expiry against a political figure who figures very prominently in the ongoing impeachment of President Trump." Meister has pleaded guilty to ane count of threatening a U.S. official. A plea agreement with prosecutors calls for Meister to be sentenced to time already served.
Oct. 26, 2019: During a Collier County fair in Florida, a teenage girl allegedly assaulted a man dressed as Trump. "While standing in line [with my wife and stepdaughter] waiting our turn to become in to the haunted house exhibit, [she] … walked over to me and punched me in my left jaw. She laughed and ran dorsum to her place in line," the man told constabulary, according a law report of the incident. The unidentified daughter'south "sole motivation was to strike 'Trump,'" and a video of the incident was posted on social media, the police force report added. The daughter was issued a civil citation and ordered to appear in courtroom, co-ordinate to the Collier County sheriff'due south office.
Nov. 1, 2019: Clifton Blackwell, 61, of Milwaukee was arrested by local police after allegedly throwing acid on a Peruvian-American'southward face up and accusing him of being within the United states illegally. Before attacking the victim exterior of a Mexican restaurant, Blackwell allegedly asked the victim "Why y'all invade my country?" and "Why don't you respect my laws?" The set on was captured on video by surveillance cameras, and the victim suffered second-degree burns on his confront and cervix. When police and then searched Blackwell'southward domicile, they found gun parts and "three letters addressed to President Donald Trump," a police written report noted. And when police interviewed an employee at a grocery store frequented by Blackwell, the employee told police force that Blackwell "many times talked almost his political support for President Trump," co-ordinate to a police force study. "She stated she was even warned by the security baby-sit James to not talk nigh political issued when [Blackwell] is in the store because of how he acts." Blackwell was charged with first-degree reckless injury during a hate criminal offense. He pleaded not guilty and is pending trial.
November. 6, 2019: Lawrence 1000. Garcia of the Albuquerque, New Mexico, area was arrested by the FBI for allegedly threatening to kill local constabulary enforcement and flop a U.Southward. banking company's offices. In a phone phone call to the bank, Garcia said, "If Donald J. Trump doesn't step down past my birthday, the day after, we shall declare war against the devil. … [S]o Donald J. Trump yous are going to bow to the American people," according to charging documents filed in the instance. A federal grand jury indicted Garcia on ane count of communicating a threat over country lines, but he has a history of mental illness and a federal guess afterward adamant he "is non soon competent to stand trial." Garcia was placed into federal custody to receive treatment.
February. 11, 2020: Patrick Bradley, 34, of Windham, North.H., was arrested by local police for allegedly assaulting a pro-Trump teenager on the twenty-four hours of New Hampshire's primary ballot for presidential nominees. According to police, "Bradley had exited the voting polls located inside Windham High School and was walking by a TRUMP entrada tent occupied past several campaign supporters / workers. Equally he passed by the tent Bradley slapped [the] fifteen-year old juvenile beyond the face. He so assaulted 2 other adults who attempted to intercede. Bradley was also accused of throwing TRUMP campaign signs and attempting to knock over the aforementioned tent." Bradley was charged with three misdemeanor counts of simple assault and one count of disorderly conduct. He has pleaded non guilty and is awaiting trial.
Feb. 19, 2020: The FBI arrested Salvatore Lippa II, 57, of upstate New York for allegedly threatening to impale Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, the summit Democrat in the Senate, and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-California, the chairman of the Business firm Intelligence Committee. In tardily Jan, he left a voicemail at Schiff'due south office in Washington, D.C., calling Schiff a "scumbag" and threatening to "put a bullet in your [curse] forehead," according to charging documents. Ii weeks later, he allegedly left a voicemail at Schumer's office in Albany, New York, saying "somebody wants to assassinate you." When federal authorities confronted Lippa, he "admitted that he made the threatening calls because he was upset about the impeachment proceedings" targeting Trump. Lippa has been charged with threatening to kill a U.Southward. official and is currently engaged in plea negotiations with the government, according to court records.
Apr 30, 2020: A Pennsylvania man who fled Cuba near two decades ago, Alazo Alexander, allegedly opened burn on the Cuban embassy in Washington, D.C. When police force officers first arrested Alexander, he was property an American flag and yelling nonsensical statements, according to charging documents filed in the instance. He had also unsuccessfully tried to burn down a Cuban flag that had several phrases written on it, including, "Trump 2020." After his abort, Alexander told authorities he had heard voices in his head and believed certain Cubans were trying to impale him, so he "wanted to go them before they got him," the charging documents said. His wife afterwards told authorities that Garcia was previously diagnosed with a delusional disorder. Garcia has been charged with three firearms-related offenses, including i count of using a deadly weapon to attack a foreign official. Information technology'due south unclear if he'due south entered an initial plea.
ABC News' Aaron Katersky, Meg Cunningham, Luke Barr, Karen Travers, and Alexis Scott contributed to this report.
EDITOR'S Note: This article has been updated since it was first published in October 2018.
Source: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/blame-abc-news-finds-17-cases-invoking-trump/story?id=58912889
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