A Donald Trump aide verified on Monday, July 13, that the FBI is "actively investigating" the graphic threats made allegedly against the real estate mogul by notorious Mexican drug lord El Chapo, who escaped from prison for the second time this past weekend.
The incident began this past Sunday when the 2016 presidential hopeful took to his Twitter to call out his political opponents and El Chapo (Joaquin Guzman Loera), following the drug cartel leader's high-profile escape from a maximum security prison through a tunnel.
Mexico's biggest drug lord escapes from jail. Unbelievable corruption and USA is paying the price. I told you so!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2015
Can you envision Jeb Bush or Hillary Clinton negotiating with 'El Chapo', the Mexican drug lord who escaped from prison? ….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 13, 2015
The business mogul, 69, even made a bold claim of his own, which made its way back to the criminal.
…Trump, however, would kick his ass!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 13, 2015
El Chapo — who ran the powerful Sinaloa cartel after his 2001 prison break up until his arrest last year — replied to Trump via an unverified Twitter account on Sunday. "Continue f—ing around and I will make you swallow all your whore words f—ing white [slur for those with blonde or red hair]," the account read.
On Monday, after the incident blew up, a Trump aide released a statement verifying that the proper authorities have been contacted. "The FBI is fully aware of the situation and is actively investigating this threat against Mr. Trump," the aide noted, via Reuters.
Trump, in a separate statement of his own, said of the threat: "I'm fighting for much more than myself. I'm fighting for the future of our country which is being overrun by criminals. You can't be intimidated. This is too important."
The FBI, meanwhile, made no statement regarding the matter. "Standard practice is to neither confirm nor deny FBI investigations," a spokesperson told Reuters.
El Chapo, of course, isn't the first — or likely the last — to rail against Trump. The business mogul offended many at his campaign opening event when he made several outlandish comments in a controversial speech. "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best… They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists," he said at the time. "And some, I assume, are good people."
Democratic party frontrunner Hillary Clinton called out Trump on Monday, tweeting in Spanish: "Basta!" (which means enough). Trump, in turn, replied to Clinton on Tuesday, July 14, via social media.
"She is desperate, she is sad, and she is obviously very nervous when she has to revert to issues that have already been settled given the absolute accuracy of my statement," Trump wrote via Facebook. "Hillary should spend more time producing her illegally hidden emails and less time trying to obfuscate a statement by me that is totally clear and obviously very much accepted by the public as true. I am honored, however, that she is attacking me, instead of Jeb Bush. Obviously she knows that JEB is no longer her real competition. The last person she wants to face is Donald Trump."
