Constitutional lawyers support criminal charges against Trump-Vance in Ohio

Legal experts from an advocacy group and a civil rights law firm called on a district attorney Friday to file criminal charges against former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance for their roles in spreading lies about the Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio.

Constitutional lawyers from Free Speech For People, a Massachusetts-based advocacy group, and Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym, a Chicago-based law firm, have issued a joint letter to Clark County Prosecutor Daniel Driscoll in support of a criminal complaint filed by the Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA), a San Diego-based rights group, on September 24.

The complaint alleges that Trump and Vance (R-Ohio), the Republican presidential and vice presidential candidates, disrupted public services, raised false alarms and engaged in telecommunications harassment and aggravated threats.

Last month, Trump and Vance repeatedly claimed that Haitian immigrants in Springfield were stealing pets to eat – claims that lacked any credible basis and were widely derided as racist.

The two Republicans’ spreading of the false rumors resulted in 33 bomb threats in Springfield, as well as other threats against individuals and elected officials, according to the HBA complaint; State troops had to be sent to the city and some schools and public buildings were closed or evacuated.

Friday’s joint letter argues that Trump and Vance repeated the dangerous claims after knowing they were false and that their statements foreseeably caused security threats; it describes this as “serious criminal misconduct”.

“Trump and Vance continually use their national platform to spread dangerous falsehoods that are likely to cause widespread civil unrest in already marginalized communities, and fall squarely within the scope of the criminal charges your office is tasked with reviewing,” it said in the letter.

“Trump and Vance’s positions of authority do not protect them from the consequences that would—and have—affected anyone else,” the authors also wrote.

The criminal complaint, called an affidavit, was filed under an Ohio law that allows citizens to file a criminal complaint. It calls on prosecutors to find probable cause to arrest Trump and Vance.

A group of local judges referred the matter to Driscoll on Oct. 4, but so far he has taken no public action or set a date for a hearing, which Subodh Chandra, the Ohio attorney who filed the lawsuit for HBA, previously stated as a requirement a complaint can be rejected. HBA is keen for the facts to be made public Los Angeles Timesreported last month.

The letter, from Free Speech For People and Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym, argues that free speech is not a valid defense for Trump and Vance in this case because “the evidence overwhelmingly shows” that their “speech was knowingly false “.

“Trump and Vance made a calculated decision to repeat racist falsehoods … knowing that their calls would incite their supporters and others to disruptive and violent actions,” the letter said.