From McCollum v. Baldwin, decided today by Judge Edgardo Ramos (S.D.N.Y.):
Jiennah McCollum is the widow of Marine Lance Corporal Rylee J. McCollum, who was killed in an attack by a suicide bomber on August 26, 2021, in Kabul, Afghanistan. One month after Rylee died in Kabul, Jiennah gave birth to their daughter. Rylee is also survived by his father, Jim, and two sisters, Roice and Cheyenne. Roice appeared on the Fox News program "The Story with Martha MacCallum" in early 2022 to discuss Rylee's death….
Baldwin has 2.4 million followers on Instagram, where he has been socially and politically active for years. After Rylee's death, a GoFundMe account started fundraising for Jiennah and her soon-to-be-born daughter. Baldwin donated $5,000 to Jiennah in support of the soldier's family.
On January 6, 2021, Roice went to Washington, D.C. to participate in the demonstration to protest the election of President Joe Biden, which later escalated into a riot in the Capitol Building. However, she did not take part in the riot: she neither entered the Capitol Building nor engaged in any confrontation with police officers or government officials. Roice was later interviewed by the FBI about the demonstration and was cleared of any wrongdoing. Jiennah and Cheyenne were not present in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021.
On January 3, 2022, Baldwin saw a photo of a crowd of demonstrators at the Washington Monument posted by Roice on her Instagram page in anticipation of the one-year anniversary of her attendance at the Washington, D.C. demonstration.
Baldwin then commented on Roice's post "Are you the same woman that I sent the $ to for your sister's husband who was killed during the Afghanistan exit?" Upon confirmation from Roice that she was the sister of Rylee and the sister-in-law of Jiennah, Baldwin engaged in an exchange of private messages with Roice on Instagram. The final private messages between Baldwin and Roice state as follows:
