U.S. man charged in 'enemy of the people' threats to Boston Globe Reuters
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Robert Chain, 68, was arrested on Thursday morning. The grandfather is accused of threatening to shoot staff at The Boston Globe for their anti-Trump coverage. (Photo: Daily Mail)
BOSTON (Reuters) - Federal authorities have charged a California man with threatening to kill Boston Globe employees for the newspaper's role leading this month's defense of press freedoms by hundreds of U.S. news organizations against attacks by President Donald Trump.
Prosecutors said Robert Chain, 68, called journalists "the enemy of the people" in threatening phone calls that echoed the phrase Trump has used to criticize unflattering news coverage through his campaign and years in office.
Prosecutors said Chain, who lives in Encino, California, was arrested on Thursday charged with one count of making threatening communications to interstate commerce. If convicted, he could face up to five years in prison.
Prosecutors said Chain made 14 threatening calls to the Globe from Aug. 10 through Aug. 22, including on Aug. 16 - the day the press freedom editorials ran - when he threatened to shoot employees in the head at 4 p.m. That prompted authorities to station police outside the paper's Boston building.
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Prosecutors said Robert Chain, 68, called journalists "the enemy of the people" in threatening phone calls that echoed the phrase Trump has used to criticize unflattering news coverage through his campaign and years in office.
"In a time of increasing political polarization, and amid the increasing incidence of mass shootings, members of the public must police their own political rhetoric. Or we will," Andrew Lelling, the U.S. attorney for Massachusetts and a Trump appointee, said in a statement on the arrest.
The editorials led Trump to lash out on Twitter, saying, "THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA IS THE OPPOSITION PARTY. It is very bad for our Great Country...
Trump continued bashing news media organizations on Wednesday and Thursday, lashing out at NBC and CNN, and again using the phrase "enemy of the people."
In June, five people were shot dead at a newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland, allegedly by a man by a longstanding grudge against the paper, prosecutors said.
At some point DHS will have to label our fearless leader as a promoter of terrorism. If it's not his war on the media then it's some other nutty stuff like his decision to hire conspiracy theorist morons who pushed Pizzagate......something which easily could have resulted in tragedy. Or his support for white supremacists and their rallies which often do result in tragedy.
The underlying problem of course is that so many of Trump's supporters are gullible and violent morons with a warped sense of reality.
I agree, except for the limiting phrase "so many of", which is unnecessary.
well this simply can't be true - i know many conservative minded posters on NT who are absolutely convinced that nothing the President says or does will influence anyone in any way because they claim that no one pays attention to what he says.. just to what he does, right ?
(I don't remember anything of this nature happening during previous presidencies and they got negative coverage as well - maybe someone can find me an article of something of this nature happening during a previous presidency)
Politics aside this guy should be arrested just for being stupid. In this day and age who doesn't realize that making threats is a criminal offence and that phones are traceable?