US man arrested over Trump Jr. white powder threat

(FILES): This file photo taken on April 17, 2017 shows Donald Trump, Jr., son of US President Donald Trump, attending the 139th White House Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC. The New York Times on July 9. 2017 reported Donald Trump Jr., son-in-law Jared Kushner and then-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort met in New York in June 2016 with a Russian lawyer with Kremlin connections, the earliest such contact yet reported. SAUL LOEB / AFP

Donald Trump, Jr. PHOTO: SAUL LOEB / AFP

A 24-year-old Massachusetts man was arrested and charged on Thursday with sending a threatening message and suspicious white powder to President Donald Trump’s eldest son last month, officials said.

The letter was opened at Donald Trump Jr’s New York apartment on February 12. His wife Vanessa was taken to hospital as a precaution after opening the envelope.

Daniel Frisiello from Beverly, north of Boston, allegedly sent the letter and similar threats to four other prominent individuals across the country.

The five envelopes were postmarked Boston and each contained a threatening message and a white powdery substance. No one was hurt in any of the incidents and the substance was deemed not hazardous, federal officials said.

The message to the president’s son called him an “awful, awful person” and threatened the 40-year-old father of five was “getting what you deserve,” officials said.

Frisiello was charged with five counts of mailing a threat to injure and five counts of false information and hoaxes. Each charge carries a maximum prison term of five years.

He is due to appear before a federal court in Worcester, Massachusetts later on Thursday.

Trump Jr, an outspoken defender of his father, called the incident “truly disgusting.”

He and his brother Eric Trump live in New York and run the family real-estate business, taking over after their father took office in January 2017.

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