In an exclusive interview with Breitbart News, a local activist in Twin Falls demands U.S. Attorney Wendy Olson step down.
The activists want to bring justice to a five-year-old American girl who was raped on June 2 by a group of refugee children as a 14-year-old refugee videotaped the horrible incident. Idaho activist Julie Ruf tells Breitbart News that statements made by Olson to protect the refugee community in the wake of rapes indicate she is unfit for the job of protecting the Constitution.
Julie Ruf has been working with the victim’s family since the rapes happened, trying to help get them both victim services and fair treatment by local authorities. The fight is an uphill climb for Ruf and other activists, as both local authorities and media members began attacking the group for expressing concerns about the dangers of the recent influx of Muslim refugees into the area.
A number of local businesses in the food processing industry use the refugee population as a source of cheap labor, and also receive financial incentives from both the state and federal government for employing refugees instead of Americans.
The Twin Falls activist expressed concerns about the brutal rape of the mentally challenged five-year-old, which included oral and anal penetration as well as the victim being urinated on by at least two of the boys. One concern of the local activists were recent headlines around the world about videotaped sexual assault involving Muslim refugees, such as the New Year’s Eve attack in Cologne, Germany.
U.S. Attorney Olson made a statement that appeared to threaten local activists with legal action for expressing their concern if that speech contain “false information.” In a written statement released in June by the DOJ, Olson said:
…the spread of false information or inflammatory or threatening statements about the perpetrators or the crime itself reduces public safety and may violate federal law. We have seen time and again that the spread of falsehoods about refugees divides our communities
That promoted University of Southern California, Los Angeles law professor Eugene Volokh to write a scathing editorial for the Washington Post, pointing out:
The prosecutor — a prosecutor backed by the might of the federal government — is not just condemning “threatening statements.” She is equally condemning “inflammatory” statements “about the perpetrators or the crime,” as well as “the spread of false information.”
There is no First Amendment exception for ‘inflammatory’ statements; and even false statements about matters of public concern, the Supreme Court has repeatedly held, are an inevitable part of free debate.
After the activists and others spoke up about the frightening Constitutional implications of a U.S. Attorney issuing a warning about the “spread of false information or inflammatory” speech, Olson issued another statement that said:
The statement was not intended to and does not threaten to arrest or prosecute anyone for First Amendment protected speech.
Asked about the incident by Breitbart News, Ruf said:
Stranahan: From the time that the rapes occurred, how long did it take until arrests were made?
Julie: The rape occurred on June 2nd, arrests were on the 17th we believe.
Stranahan: Okay. And what happened after that, was there publicity about the story at that point?
Julie: It was gaining some momentum, and U.S attorney Wendy Olson came out with a statement which had questionable language, intimidating language that seemed to imply that there could be federal charges against Idahoans who she felt inaccurately about this case.
Stranahan: Who appointed her?
Julie: Obama appointed Wendy Olson.
Stranahan: Okay so President Obama appointed her. And when you say- so she was basically threatening people talking about the case or?
Julie: It is the impression that her verbiage gave the people. It was a threatening kind of verbiage. Arrest is threatening. When you imply that in a position of a U.S. attorney to Idaho, of course it’s going to seem threatening to the people, and it was intimidating to local people.
Stranahan: And how do you feel that affects her objectivity? How do you feel about that?
Julie: It is absolutely biased. She does not have objectivity. I’m not aware of a statement she made that indicated any protective action for citizens. Or even a compassion statement for the victim or their family. (Editors note: Olson’s initial statement contained said “The United States Attorney’s Office extends its support to the five-year-old victim of assault, and her family, at the Fawnbrook Apartments in Twin Falls” but it is unclear what that support is.”)
Stranahan: And why do you feel what Wendy Olson said is important? Do you think its got some-
Julie: American culture depends on our liberties that are established in the Constitution, and she’s infringed, the verbiage she used against one of the basic rights that Americans have, which is the right to have freedom of speech, and it has violated people to the point that they have felt intimidated. And American culture is founded on the Constitution, if we don’t have the confidence in that, we don’t have a culture
Stranahan: And there are plenty of other cases, I’m thinking of Black Lives Matter cases for instance, where rumors are all over the place and have you ever heard about any U.S. attorney making that kind of statement about rumors?
Julie: No, I have not. She has just taken this statement out of all the other events going on to make a threat against Idahoans. Very inappropriate for someone of that office.
Stranahan: In general, do you feel that there’s been a double standard applied to the people of- you’re an activist standing up for the victim, do you feel like there’s been a double standard applied to you?
Julie: On a national level, I think we could make a very good case that a double standard has been applied.
Stranahan: And do you feel locally that’s the case? Do you think they’ve treated this case differently than they would have if the races have been different or you know, it had been 3 Mormon boys raping a refugee girl, do you think the local media would have treated it differently?
Julie: I imagine the local media would have treated it I don’t have any insight whether or not this is how Idahoans- Southern Idahoans treat child rape. If it is, it’s an absolute offense.
Recently Ruf and other activists from the local group We The People called on both the Democrat and Republican presidential candidates to visit Twin Falls to learn about what they see as a dangerous transformation underway in America. Breitbart News writer Michael Patrick Leahy outlined how the importation of refugees is part of a program that goes back to Bill Clinton’s presidency.
Local TV news coverage of We The People’s press conference calling on Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton to come to Twin Falls called the group racist and failed to mention the invitation or the group’s concerns that the drive for cheap labor was caused the influx of refugees.
Listen to Breitbart News Lead Investigative Reporter Lee Stranahan discuss the Twin Falls scandal on on SiruiusXM’s Breitbart News Sunday.
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