Trump ricin poisoning suspect arrested at Canadian border

On Saturday, we learned that someone had sent a letter containing the deadly poison ricin to the White House, addressed to President Trump. While the toxic envelope never made it anywhere near Trump, it still sent law enforcement scurrying to find the culprit who was suspected of having sent it from Canada. At the time, I speculated that we would find out who cooked up this attempted assassination, even if it took a few days or weeks. It turns out that the trail wasn’t all that hard to follow, however. By last night, authorities had arrested a suspect who was allegedly trying to make her way into the United States from Canada at a border crossing near Buffalo, New York. And yes… the suspect is a woman. (NBC News)

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A woman suspected of sending a letter containing the deadly poison ricin to the White House was arrested trying to enter the United States from Canada, two federal law enforcement officials said Sunday.

An FBI spokesperson confirmed the arrest and said the agency is continuing to investigate the suspicious letter.

A federal law enforcement official said the woman was taken into custody while traveling across Peace Bridge, which connects Fort Erie, Ontario, and Buffalo, New York.

Another federal law enforcement official said the suspect was detained by Customs and Border Protection agents. Additional information about the arrest and the suspect was not immediately available.

Authorities aren’t releasing much information about the suspect yet beyond her gender and the location where she was taken into custody. CBS News offered up a few more details this morning, including the fact that she was carrying a gun when she was taken into custody. Also, she allegedly also sent similar poison letters to an unspecified number of federal prisons, but the intended recipients were not disclosed. If she’s made any statements at this point they aren’t being offered to the media.

Thus far we don’t know if this woman is just some deranged Canadian citizen or if she’s an American Trump-hater who traveled to the Great White North to mail the letters in hopes of throwing law enforcement off the scent. If the latter was the case, her plot clearly didn’t work out very well, assuming authorities have the right person in custody.

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Perhaps the most interesting feature of her story thus far could be the fact that she had a handgun on her when she was arrested. It could just be a coincidence, of course. Both Canada and the United States are home to plenty of gun owners and many people take them along when they travel. But the timing of this encounter seems a bit suspicious, doesn’t it? The news of the interception of the letter(s) was made public on Saturday. Barely 24 hours later, the alleged perpetrator was found trying to cross into America while carrying a firearm. Is it possible that she learned of the failure of her poison letter plot and decided to head directly to Washington to finish off Trump herself in a more personal fashion?

If anything, that was probably a dumber plan than mailing the ricin to the President. Getting close enough to the POTUS to get off an accurate shot with a handgun (as opposed to a sniper rifle) is a tremendous challenge, what with all of the security that surrounds him at all times. The moment she visibly produced a firearm within shouting distance of Trump she probably would have been driven into the ground, if not simply shot down.

While the immediate danger may have been removed (assuming this woman is, in fact, guilty), this should serve as a reminder of Donald Trump’s need for security. There are too many enraged leftists out there who don’t simply disagree with the President’s policies. They harbor a visceral hatred of the man and there are obviously some who would risk everything for a chance to take him out rather than face the prospect of another four years of him being in office. When I originally wrote about this story, I linked to one of the first “breaking news” tweets that I saw announcing the discovery of the letter. If you scroll down through the first replies to that tweet, you will find any number of caustic responses cheering on the attempt on the President’s life. For most, it may just be hyperbole, but this mystery woman from Canada shows that there are some who are ready to unleash more than just words.

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