A Canadian woman has been charged with threatening President Donald Trump by mailing a letter laced with the deadly poison ricin to the White House, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday.
The woman, Pascale Cecile Veronique Ferrier, 53, who lives in Quebec, was carrying a knife and a loaded gun tucked into her waistband when she was taken into custody along the U.S.–Canada border Sunday, prosecutors said.
"I found a new name for you: 'The Ugly Tyrant Clown,'" read a rambling note found inside the letter that arrived at the White House's mail sorting center Friday, according to court documents.
"You ruin USA and lead them to disaster. I don't want the next 4 years with you as president. Give up and remove your application for this election. So I made a 'Special Gift' for you to make a decision. This gift is in this letter. If it doesn't work, I'll find better recipe for another poison, or I might use my gun when I'll be able to come."
Ferrier is also alleged to have sent letters containing a powdery substance to people at jails and detention centers in Texas, where she had recently been arrested on weapons charges. Those letters, like the letter addressed to Trump, also used the phrase "if it doesn't work I will find a better recipe," the complaint said.
Ferrier was taken into custody after investigators matched her fingerprints on the letters recovered in Texas with fingerprints of Ferrier in FBI databases.
The FBI said that on Sept. 9, she made postings on Twitter and Facebook saying "#killTrump" and used the same phrase found in the letter to the president: "Ugly Clown Tyrant."
According to the complaint, she told Customs and Border Protection officers at the U.S.-Canadian border crossing in Buffalo, New York, that she was wanted by the FBI for the ricin letters.
Ferrier was ordered held without bail at her initial court appearance in Buffalo. Her lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.
