Hello everyone, it's a happy Thursday and we're 39 days away from the election. Today I'm going to tell you about the time I falsely screamed “fire” in a crowded theater.

This is, of course, an analogy that Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes coined in 1919 when he was trying to draw boundaries on the First Amendment right of free speech. He was basically arguing that there are limits to the false shit that someone can say if that false shit can cause people to get hurt. Even politically motivated deceptiona type of false bullshit that is especially respected.

The story moves to Springfield, Ohio, where Haitians who have undoubtedly been harmed by Donald Trump and J.D. Vance's Big Lie may find a new way to achieve some accountability: a citizens' lawsuit asking a judge to hold Trump and Vance criminally liable for their pet-devouring tale.

Ohio has a strange law that allows anyone to file an affidavit with a judge seeking an arrest (or at least an investigation) for a certain crime, provided they can make a strong enough case.

The law has been used successfully before, including in the 2014 police shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, after prosecutors failed to indict the officers involved in that case. The citizen's affidavit convinced the judge The ruling found there was probable cause to believe the officers committed a crime. Though the ruling ultimately did not lead to charges, it put pressure on prosecutors and provided a modicum of accountability.

The affidavit filed this week against Trump and Vance in Clark County, Ohio, has so far been more than just publicity and may have some real impact.

Let's take a closer look at how to do this.

Confusion and fear

The affidavit was filed by the San Diego-based Haitian Bridge Alliance, a grassroots nonprofit that supports Haitians in Springfield.

The organization's executive director, Guerin Joseph, is a Haitian immigrant herself, and when Trump and Vance first started talking about Haitians, her first thought was, “Not again.”

But Trump and Vance continued to make their case. If you haven't noticed, Vance and Trump have repeatedly alleged that legal Haitian immigrants in Springfield are stealing and eating people's cats and dogs, and even waterfowl from the public lake.

The Springfield Police Department says there's no evidence of that. The mayor says it's a false allegation. The city manager says it's a false allegation. The Governor of Ohio says it's a false allegation. Even two social media postersWho Adding fuel to the fire The people involved who denied the rumors later retracted them and apologized.

But calls started coming in from Springfield to Joseph and her team. People there she knew were scared, she said. Afraid to go to work or school, afraid to walk at night. This was a vulnerable community that had migrated to the U.S. because of political violence, and they hadn't anticipated the trauma of being surrounded by that insecurity again in the quiet towns they called home.

Even neighbors and co-workers have suddenly become a source of anxiety: One immigrant told her that the day after the presidential debate, as Trump repeated his lies to millions of people, a co-worker asked him, “Does he like to eat cats?”

This man is alone in America, except for his cat.

“You can only imagine how distressing this must have been for him as his only friend in America was his cat,” she said.

Domino effect

This may seem like a small example, but it normalizes racism, both for those who experience it and for those who perpetuate it.

Since Vance and Trump began their fear mongering and shutting down schools, government offices and medical facilities, there have been at least 33 bomb threats in Springfield. Highway Patrol officers are now stationed in schools. The Mayor of Springfield has received threats against his family. The city declared a state of emergency.

“We certainly [Trump and Vance] “They created this vile, false narrative to scare the Haitian community,” Joseph said, “but it really created chaos well beyond the Haitian community, into the Springfield government itself.”

And political “free speech” is no longer limited to just Trump and Vance. On Wednesday, Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana posted on the social media platform X: Then delete:LOL, these Haitians are wild. Eating pets is voodoo, the filthiest country in the Western Hemisphere….All of these thugs better come to their senses and get out of this country by January 20th.”

January 20, 2025 is the day the new president will be inaugurated, so this sounds like a threat.

And the threats aren't just confined to Springfield anymore: The Haitian Bridge Alliance has received calls about threats against immigrants from all over, including Brooklyn. The group has been forced to close its California office after receiving so many threats against its organization and staff, and Joseph's emails have been inundated with warnings that include the N-word.

“It's clear that this rhetoric is rooted in racism, white supremacy and xenophobia, and we cannot allow America to continue heading in this direction,” she said.

Once is ugly. Doing it dozens of times is illegal.

Subodh Chandra is the Ohio lawyer handling the Haitian Bridge depositions, a former Los Angeles native, former federal prosecutor and Cleveland city attorney, and, like Vance's wife, the child of Indian immigrants.

Chandra said the problem isn't just that Vance and Trump said something that wasn't true, but that they continued to say it over and over again, even after seeing the harm it caused and after being told by authorities that it was false.

He said this was an ongoing, deliberately false statement and could be illegal.

“There's been a relentless, deliberate and relentless campaign of disinformation. Both Trump and Vance know they have a huge megaphone and a cult-like following that pretty much believes what they say.”

In his lawsuit, Chandra alleges that Trump and Vance committed six crimes:

• It led to widespread bomb and other threats and caused severe disruption to public services.
• They deliberately created unrest in Springfield by continuing to repeat lies that state and local officials claim are false.
• He engaged in communications harassment by spreading false allegations he knew to be false at presidential debates, campaign rallies, nationally broadcast interviews and on social media.
• Committing aggravated intimidation by knowingly making threatening statements with the intent to abuse, intimidate or harass the recipient.
• A member of Springfield's Haitian community knowingly misled another into thinking he would inflict serious bodily harm on the person or property of another person in Springfield, committing the further crime of aggravated menacing.
• They violated the conspiracy law by conspiring with one another and spreading malicious lies to frame innocent parties as accomplices in various crimes.

What next?

Chandra said the court had not taken any action as of Wednesday.

But he maintains there are only two options: “Either issue an arrest warrant or refer the case to the prosecutor's office for further investigation.”

He wants an arrest warrant, but that's probably unlikely.

Still, Chandra said even if the court wanted to quash the affidavit, it would have to hold a hearing first.

What the Haitian Bridge Alliance wants is this public exposure, an open legal process in which the damage caused by Trump and Vance's lies will be laid out for all to see, and in which they may have to justify spreading dangerous falsehoods that they claim Chandra knew were lies and that caused real harm.

“We want public transparency,” Chandra said.

I think so too, and we all should think so too.

What else to read

Must Read: Haitian group seeks criminal charges against Trump and Vance in Springfield court filing
Long-awaited good news: House passes short-term spending bill to avert government shutdown
LA Times Special: Trump's rhetorical tirades: a sign of “genius” or cognitive decline?
Stay golden,
Anita Chhabria

P.S.:

The full affidavit is posted here, so please read it.

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