The leader of a Haitian non-profit community group has filed criminal charges against Donald Trump and JD Vance over unsubstantiated claims they made about immigrants eating the pets of other residents in Springfield, Ohio.
Several bomb threats have been recorded in the city this month because of what Guerline Jozef, executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, called the pair’s efforts to “vilify and threaten” their community.
Ms Jozef said Mr Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, and his running mate Mr Vance, an Ohio senator, had spread and amplified “the debunked claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield are eating cats, dogs, and wildlife”.
Officials in Springfield have repeatedly said the claim that Haitian immigrants have arrived there illegally is not true, while city police have dismissed reports of migrants eating pets.
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‘No evidence of pets being eaten’
The Haitian community group’s lawyer Subodh Chandra cited inaction by the local prosecutor in asserting Ms Jozef’s right to file the charges with Clark County Municipal Court as a private citizen.
If “anyone else” had spread such “relentless and persistent lies” they would have been arrested by now, he said in a statement on Tuesday reported by Sky’s US partner NBC News.
“They must be held accountable to the rule of law in the same way any of the rest of us would be,” said Mr Chandra.
Under Ohio law, private citizens can file criminal charges, and Mr Chandra said the move by the Haitian community group was justified because prosecutors had failed to act.
Trump-Vance campaign communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement the former president is “rightfully highlighting” his Democrat opponent [and US Vice President] Kamala Harris’s “failed immigration system”, which he said has allowed “thousands of illegal immigrants” into “communities like Springfield and many others across the country”.
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During the presidential debate against Ms Harris earlier this month, Mr Trump made the unfounded claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield are “eating the pets of the people that live there”.
He has continued to spread the false claims on his social media website and at rallies. Mr Vance has echoed the unfounded claims.
More than 30 bomb threats have been recorded in the city this month, forcing schools and government buildings to be evacuated and closed.
Threats have also been made against the city’s mayor Rob Rue.
Ms Harris leads Mr Trump in the latest national opinion polls ahead of November’s election, which is expected to be decided by a handful of key swing states.
Donald Trump says a meeting is being set up between himself and Vladimir Putin – and that he and Barack Obama “probably” like each other.
Republican US president-elect Mr Trump spoke to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Thursday, saying Russian president Mr Putin “wants to meet, and we are setting it up”.
“He has said that even publicly and we have to get that war over with. That’s a bloody mess,” Mr Trump said.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday there was a “mutual desire” to set up a meeting – but added no details had been confirmed yet and that there may be progress once Mr Trump is inaugurated on 20 January.
“Moscow has repeatedly declared its openness to contacts with international leaders, including the US president, including Donald Trump,” Mr Peskov added.
“What is required is a mutual desire and political will to conduct dialogue and resolve existing problems through dialogue. We see that Mr Trump also declares his readiness to resolve problems through dialogue. We welcome this. There are still no specifics, we proceed from the mutual readiness for the meeting.”
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Trump on Obama: ‘We just got along’
Mr Trump also made some lighter remarks regarding a viral exchange between himself and former Democrat President Barack Obamaat Jimmy Carter’s funeral on Thursday.
The pairsat together for the late president’s service in Washington DC on Thursday, and could be seen speaking for several minutes as the remaining mourners filed in before it began.
Mr Obama was seen nodding as his successor spoke before breaking into a grin.
Asked about the exchange, Mr Trump said: “I didn’t realise how friendly it looked.
“I said, ‘boy, they look like two people that like each other’. And we probably do.
“We have a little different philosophies, right? But we probably do. I don’t know. We just got along. But I got along with just about everybody.”
The amicable exchange comes after years of criticising each other in the public eye; it was Mr Trump who spread the so-called “birther” conspiracy theory about Mr Obama in 2011, falsely asserting that he was not born in the United States.
Mr Trump has repeatedly attacked the Obamas, saying the former president was “ineffective” and “terrible” and calling former first lady Michelle Obama “nasty” as recently as October last year.
On Kamala Harris’s campaign trail last year, Mr Obama said Mr Trump was a “78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator nine years ago”, while the former first lady said that “the consequences of him ever being president again are brutally serious.”
The US Supreme Court has rejected a last-ditch attempt by Donald Trump to delay sentencing in the Stormy Daniels hush money case.
The president-elect was convicted on 34 counts last May in New York of falsifying business records relating to payments made to Ms Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.
Prosecutors claimed he had paid her $130,000 (£105,300) in hush money to not reveal details of what Ms Daniels said was a sexual relationship in 2006.
Mr Trump has denied any liaison with Ms Daniels or any wrongdoing.
By a majority, the Supreme Court found his sentencing would not be an insurmountable burden during the presidential transition since the presiding judge, Juan M Merchan, has indicated he will not give Mr Trump jail time, fines or probation.
Mr Trump’s attorneys argued that evidence used in the Manhattan trial violated last summer’s Supreme Court ruling giving Mr Trump broad immunity from prosecution over acts he took as president.
At the least, they said, the sentencing should be delayed while their appeals play out to avoid distracting Mr Trump during the presidential transition.
Mr Trump’s attorneys went to the justices after New York courts refused to postpone sentencing.
Judges in New York found that the convictions related to personal matters rather than Mr Trump’s official acts as president.
Mr Trump’s attorneys called the case politically motivated, and they said sentencing him now would be a “grave injustice” that threatens to disrupt the presidential transition as the Republican prepares to return to the White House.
Mr Trump has said he will appeal again: “I respect the court’s opinion – I think it was actually a very good opinion for us because you saw what they said, but they invited the appeal and the appeal is on the bigger issue. So, we’ll see how it works out,” he said at a dinner with Republican governors at his private club in Florida.
Because the New York case was a state, rather than federal crime, Mr Trump will not be able to pardon himself when he takes office on 20 January.