A Texas Trump supporter reportedly received a vicious voicemail following Rep. Joaquin Castro’s (D-TX) decision to publish the names and employers of Trump donors in his own San Antonio district in what appeared to be an attempt to publicly shame them.
The GOP War Room posted a video featuring a threatening voicemail purportedly left on a Trump donor’s phone. It follows Joaquin Castro – who serves as the chair of his brother’s presidential campaign – posting the names and employers of 44 individuals who donated the maximum amount to Trump’s campaign on Twitter.
“I think you’re a scumbag and I fucking despise everything you stand for … I am going to spread your information all over the Internet,” the caller states in part.
This threatening, hateful voicemail was left for a Trump supporter in Texas after @JulianCastro's campaign chairman posted the supporter's personal information online.
Intimidation and threats are exactly what Castro wanted when he posted this target list.
**language warning** pic.twitter.com/QenNGUDCfa
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) August 9, 2019
Castro has defended his decision in days past, arguing that he shared information that was already readily public. However, critics argued that his move essentially called for harassment:
This is disgusting. Inciting violence against private citizens for participating in our Democracy is beyond the pale. Your rabid hatred of @realDonaldTrump has made you deranged. https://t.co/vwj9a6EDiT
— NRCC (@NRCC) August 6, 2019
It seems profoundly unwise to drag regular people into such a charged political moment. Doesn't targeting retirees give you pause?
— David Mastio (@DavidMastio) August 6, 2019
Democrat leaders hate @realDonaldTrump’s supporters so much they’re now doxxing them.
Imagine the media outrage if Republicans did this.https://t.co/YaCDTYT8ZV
— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) August 6, 2019
EVERYONE needs to tone the hateful partisan rhetoric way down. This is WRONG & Castro should retract it. In our constitutional Republic, the People rightly hold their representatives accountable; elected representatives should not be vilifying & doxxing their own constituents. https://t.co/rrgQbK7PLU
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) August 6, 2019
People should not be personally targeted for their political views. Period. This isn’t a game. It’s dangerous, and lives are at stake. I know this firsthand. https://t.co/PbxUMIOhae
— Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) August 6, 2019
Rep. Castro spoke to MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough Wednesday morning and defended his actions.
“My post was actually a lament … many of those folks are Hispanic and they’re giving their money to a guy who’s running ads talking about Hispanics invading this country,” he said:
Rep. Castro on his post with the names of Trump donors: "My post was actually a lament … many of those folks are Hispanic and they're giving their money to a guy who's running ads talking about Hispanics invading this country." https://t.co/4aHDvsKSeA pic.twitter.com/HhNJ3Znfha
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) August 7, 2019
Julián Castro defended his brother’s decision during a press gaggle in Iowa Friday, arguing that Joaquin merely posted “public information.”
Breitbart News reported on the exchange:
Castro: Again, my brother put out a list of names of people who had maxed out to the Trump campaign. That is public information. That kind of information is put out all the time. And for anybody to pretend or suggest that it’s not, that’s just untrue. Let me also be clear: he did not put down anybody’s private information. And he did not put down their addresses, he did not put down their phone numbers.
Reporter: But he singled them out —
Castro: What he did is not “doxing.” Anybody who understand what doxxing is know that — he did not do that, all right? What he did was he put forward publicly available information that was already out there. The right wing want to make this a story because they want to pretend like in some way that’s equivalent to the hate or the division that Donald Trump is fostering in this country. It is not. I guess what Donald Trump wants is he wants these donors to be secret. He doesn’t want you to know who’s donating to him.
Reporter: Do you know that they’re donating to you, too?
Castro: He doesn’t want you to know who’s donating to him because that’s inconvenient for him. Maybe he believes that these people are embarrassed because they are donating to him.
As Breitbart News reported, another individual on Rep. Castro’s list also donated to the lawmaker.
“I was also on a list of people that gave to Castro and if he dislikes me enough that he wants to put my name out there against Trump, I’m not going to give money to him,” Real estate developer Wayne Harwell told Fox News.
“Obviously Castro feels pretty strongly against me,” he added.
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