White House ricin package suspect allegedly urged Trump to "give up for this election"
22 September 2020
A Canadian woman allegedly mailed a letter addressed to President Trump containing the poison ricin and the threat "give up and remove your application for this election," court papers filed Tuesday show.
Driving the news: Pascale Cecile Veronique Ferrier, 53, was arrested trying to enter New York from Canada on Sunday. She appeared briefly in a Buffalo, N.Y., courtroom where a judge entered a not guilty plea on her behalf to the charge of threatening the president, per CBC.
"If it doesn't work, I'll find better recipe for another poison, or I might use my gun when I'll be able to come. "
Excerpt from letter Ferrier is accused of writing
Of note: Per an affidavit obtained by HuffPost the FBI alleges that Ferrier's fingerprints were on the poinsoned letter and that she called it "a special gift."
- "I found a new name for you: 'The Ugly Tyrant Clown'," the computer programmer from Quebec allegedly wrote, per FBI charging documents.
"I hope you like it. You ruin USA and lead them to disaster. I have U.S. cousins, then I don't want the next 4 years with you as president. Give up and remove your application for this election."
What's next: France-born Ferrier was returned to the custody of U.S. Marshals, is scheduled to next face court on Sept. 28.
Read the affidavit via DocumentCloud:
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.