A Democratic lawmaker in Ohio wants to bring charges against President Donald Trump for “crimes against humanity.”
State Rep. Tavia Galonski recently posted her intention to report the president to the Hague, the city in the Netherlands where the International Criminal Court is.
“I can’t take it anymore,” said Galonski, who represents parts of Summit County near Akron. “I’m making a referral for crimes against humanity tomorrow. … I know the need for a prosecution referral when I see one.”
Her tweet came after Trump repeatedly said at a White House coronavirus task force briefing this week that an anti-malaria drug could treat COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
For the past few weeks, Trump has encouraged the use of the drug, hydroxychloroquine, which has been used to prevent malaria and treat rheumatic diseases but has shown promise in early evidence in fighting the coronavirus.
The drug has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat COVID-19, however. Last week, NBC News reported that an American couple has become deathly ill after ingesting a form of chloroquine.
“It was not done in a controlled clinical trial,” the nation’s leading infectious diseases expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said of the couple during a news conference March 23. “So you can’t make any definitive statement about it.”
Galonski’s tweet garnered significant attention, receiving more than 72,000 likes and 20,000 retweets this week.
She represents the 35th district of Ohio and was appointed in 2017, winning a full two-year term in 2018. She previously served as a juvenile court magistrate for more than 14 years.
“People in my district, they’re really wondering how they’re going to pay the bills, how they’re going to make their rent and how are they going to meet their daily needs,” Galonski told the ABC affiliate WHAM-TV. “He’s confusing people. He’s making them more fearful.
“He’s going to get people killed.”