The Quebec woman accused of sending a poisoned letter to Donald Trump was formally charged on Tuesday with threats against the President of the United States, during a hearing in a court in New York State, where she asked to be represented by an officially appointed lawyer.
Pascale Ferrier, 53, resident of Quebec, appeared in court in Buffalo, at the Canadian border where she was arrested on Sunday, before a federal magistrate, in the presence of a court-appointed lawyer whose services she requested to the rest of the procedure, and a French-English interpreter.
If he was not asked to decide at this point whether to plead guilty or not guilty, Judge Kenneth Schroeder has indicated that he is pleading not guilty on his behalf, which grants him more rights at this point.
According to the indictment made public Tuesday, it was she who sent the US president a letter received Friday at the White House postal sorting center, containing ricin, a potentially deadly poison produced by the treatment of seeds of castor oil plant.
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According to the officer who conducted the investigation, the letter contained a note intended for the President which read:
"I have found a new name for you: '
the ugly tyrannical clown'
, I hope you like it.
You are ruining the United States and leading them to disaster. ”
"Give up, do not run for this election,"
she added, before stressing that she slipped into the letter
"a special gift"
- the poison - to
"help" him
to make up his mind.
"If that doesn't work, I will find a better recipe for another poison, or I will use my weapon the day I can come,"
she concluded, signing
"Free Rebel Spirit
" ).
Forms and a signature that investigators say they found in six other letters sent to Texas in mid-September, to people working in detention centers where Pascale Ferrier was held in 2019, after her arrest for illegal possession of weapons in fire, according to the document.
Similar language would have been used on Facebook and Twitter accounts also attributed to Pascale Ferrier, according to this document.
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The accused, who spoke only in monosyllables during the hearing on Tuesday, requested a special hearing, set for September 28, during which US prosecutors will have to provide proof of her identity before being able to continue the proceedings .
In the meantime, she will remain imprisoned in the United States, prosecutors deeming that she presents
"a high risk of flight"
.
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