Woman jailed 22 years for sending ricin to Trump

WASHINGTON - A woman who sent an envelope containing the poison ricin to then US president Donald Trump has been sentenced to almost 22 years in prison, reported German news agency (dpa).

The woman, who has not been named, will remain under judicial supervision even after her release, the US Department of Justice announced on Thursday.

The 55-year-old, with Canadian and French citizenships, admitted to manufacturing ricin in her Quebec home in September 2020. She sent letters containing the poison to the White House and law enforcement officials in Texas.

According to the Department of Justice, the woman had spent several weeks in detention in Texas in 2019 and had blamed law enforcement officials.

She had also railed against Trump on social media. In the letter to the then president, she had asked the Republican to withdraw his candidacy for the 2020 Presidential Election. The envelope to Trump was intercepted by the Secret Service.

The prison sentence is part of an agreement with the prosecution which the court has now rubber-stamped.

Letters laced with the highly toxic ricin were also sent to then president Barack Obama and then New York mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2013.

Ricin can be lethal even in small quantities. - BERNAMA