An Ohio court should issue arrest warrants for Donald Trump and JD Vance for spreading false rumors that Haitians immigrants are eating dogs and cats, the attorney taking the case against them has said.
Subodh Chandra, who is bringing a criminal case against Trump and Vance on behalf of the Haitian Bridge Alliance advocacy group, told Newsweek that the court can either issue arrest warrants or refer the case to prosecutors for further investigation.
“The statute requires the court, after affirming that there is probable cause, to issue arrest warrants or refer the matter to the prosecutor for further investigation,” Chandra said.
Donald Trump and JD Vance at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 16, 2024. A Haitian activist group has taken a criminal case against Trump and Vance for spreading false rumors that Haitians are eating cats and dogs in Springfield, Ohio.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Getty Images
Chandra said that Ohio prosecutors should have charged Trump and Vance, but didn’t do so, so he had to do it himself. Newsweek sought email comment from the Clark County prosecutor’s office on Wednesday.
Chandra said: “We have requested that the court simply issue arrest warrants, and then refer the matter to the prosecutor for a transparent decision, because the prosecutor has not acted—despite the fact that the information is open and notorious to the world.”
“If the court is not inclined to grant the relief requested on the papers, then case law holds it must have a hearing. We have not yet heard what the court is going to do.”
Chandra added: “What we do know is this. If anyone else had relentlessly done what Vance and Trump have done, with the havoc that they have wreaked—33 bomb threats, school, college and government building evacuations and closures, threats to the mayor and his family, even after the governor and mayor told them they were disseminating falsehoods—they would’ve been arrested by now.”
Chandra filed the criminal complaint to the Clark County Municipal Court on Tuesday, on behalf of the Haitian Bridge Alliance.
Chandra’s court affidavit alleges that Trump and Vance disrupted public service “by causing widespread bomb and other threats that resulted in massive disruptions” to Springfield’s public services. They have also been charged with making false alarms, telecommunications harassment, aggravated menacing and complicity.
Springfield has been dominating the headlines over the past week after false claims were made that Haitian migrants, who are in the United States legally, have been killing pets and eating them.
These claims have been repeated by Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, and Vance. On September 10, in his first debate with Kamala Harris, the vice president and Democratic nominee, Trump repeated the claim, saying: “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs—the people that came in. They’re eating the cats.”
In response to the Haitian Bridge Alliance’s case, Steven Cheung, Trump’s communications director, said in an emailed statement to Newsweek: “President Trump is rightfully highlighting the failed immigration system that Kamala Harris has overseen, bringing thousands of illegal immigrants pouring into communities like Springfield and many others across the country. President Trump will secure our border and put an end to the chaos that illegal immigration brings to our communities.”
