A Haitian-born American prosecutor has been put in charge of Donald Trump's attempted assassination case just days after the former president shared false conspiracies about Haitian immigrants eating pets.
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District Florida, Markenzy Lapointe, has taken charge of the case of the alleged assassin who was stopped by Secret Service agents at Trump's golf club in West Palm Beach, as reported by the Daily Beast.
The false rumors began spreading last week after vice presidential candidate JD Vance shared alleged stories of Haitian immigrants eating pets, which city officials have debunked. Trump later joined in, making similar false comments.
Since the conspiracy theories began, multiple bomb threats and personal threats have been made to those living in Springfield, Ohio, where the false claims pointed to.
Lapointe was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and moved to the U.S. at age 16 with his mother, according to a 2022 article by the Miami Herald. Lapointe, his mother and four siblings lived in the Miami neighborhood Liberty City, where Lapointe worked as a cab driver and at a bar.
In high school, Lapointe registered for the Marine Corps, and missed his high school graduation for bootcamp, according to a 2023 article by NBC Miami He later served in the Gulf War in Iraq.
Lapointe was nominated for U.S. attorney in 2022 by President Joe Biden. He is the first Haitian-American to hold the position, and he received bipartisan support from politicians such as Sen. Marco Rubio.
Lapointe led the case against individuals who allegedly participated in the July 2021 assassination of Haiti's president, Jovenel Moise. Four Florida residents were arrested in connection with the plot in February 2023.
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