Legal Advocates Urge Prosecution of Trump and Vance Over False Claims
On Friday, constitutional attorneys from a civil rights advocacy group and a law firm urged a local prosecutor in Ohio to bring criminal charges against former President Donald Trump and Senator JD Vance. Their request stems from accusations that the two propagated harmful falsehoods about the Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio.
The advocacy group, Free Speech For People, based in Massachusetts, alongside Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym, a law firm from Chicago, penned a collective letter to Clark County prosecutor Daniel Driscoll. They are supporting a criminal complaint issued by the Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA), a rights group from San Diego, that was filed on September 24th.
The allegations claim that Trump and Vance, who are the Republican candidates for president and vice president, caused disruption of public services, issued false alarms, and engaged in telecommunications harassment and aggravated menacing.
Previously, Trump and Vance had made repeated claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield were involved in stealing pets for consumption—a statement that lacked any credible evidence and was widely criticized as being racially insensitive.
The propagation of these baseless accusations reportedly led to 33 bomb threats in Springfield, alongside other threats directed at individuals and public officials. As detailed in the complaint by HBA, this situation necessitated the deployment of state troopers, and led to the temporary closure or evacuation of some schools and public facilities.
The letter sent on Friday by the legal teams argues that Trump and Vance continued to endorse these dangerous falsehoods even after knowing they were untrue, foreseeably sparking security threats. They described this as “severe criminal misconduct.”
The letter emphasized, “The continuous dissemination of harmful untruths by Trump and Vance, leveraging their national platforms, foreseeably results in significant civic disruption within communities that are already facing marginalization, aligning directly with the criminal charges currently under consideration by your office.”
It further stressed that holding positions of power does not shield Trump and Vance from facing the same legal repercussions that would befall anyone else in similar circumstances.
The criminal complaint, which is technically an affidavit, was submitted under an Ohio law that permits citizens to request the initiation of criminal charges, urging the prosecutor to find probable cause for the arrest of Trump and Vance.
Although a panel of local judges forwarded the issue to Driscoll on October 4th, he has yet to publicly act or schedule a hearing. Subodh Chandra, the Ohio attorney who filed the complaint on behalf of HBA, indicated that a hearing is necessary before the allegations can be dismissed. HBA is particularly eager for a public examination of the evidence, as reported by the Los Angeles Times last month.
In their letter, Free Speech For People and Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym argue that free speech does not serve as a viable defense for Trump and Vance in this situation because “the evidence overwhelmingly shows” their speech was knowingly deceitful.
“Trump and Vance made a deliberate choice to echo racist fabrications… fully aware that their statements would incite their followers and others to disruptive and violent actions,” the letter concluded.
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