crime
Poisoned letter to Trump – woman sentenced to prison
The American flag flies over the White House. photo
© Patrick Semansky/AP/dpa
A woman sent letters containing the poison ricin to the White House and law enforcement officials in the US state of Texas. Ricin can be deadly even in small amounts.
The sender of a letter containing the poison ricin to the then US President Donald Trump has been sentenced to almost 22 years in prison. After her release, she will continue to be under the supervision of the judiciary, said the US Department of Justice.
The 55-year-old, who has both Canadian and French citizenship, has admitted to making ricin at her home in Quebec, Canada, in September 2020. She then sent letters containing the poison to the White House and law enforcement officials in the US state of Texas.
According to the ministry, the woman had been in custody in Texas for several weeks in 2019. She is said to have blamed law enforcement officers for it.
letter had been intercepted
She also railed against Trump on social media, it said. In the letter to the then president, she asked the Republican to withdraw his bid for the 2020 presidential election. The letter to Trump was then intercepted. The prison sentence to which the woman has now been sentenced is part of an agreement with the public prosecutor’s office that a court has now approved.
Letters containing the highly toxic ricin had already been sent in 2013 to then President Barack Obama and then New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Ricin can be deadly even in small amounts.