Arnett Thomas calls himself “a recovering criminal” after spending 21 years in a New Jersey prison for murder. But he says the “true sociopath” is former President Donald Trump due to his mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thomas, 71, of Orange, New Jersey has filed a federal class-action lawsuit against Trump over America’s coronavirus death toll and the economic and psychological impact of the virus. Speaking to NorthJersey.com, Thomas said the COVID crisis under the Trump administration “was a failed experiment.” His lawsuit cites the 14th Amendment and argues that Americans were used as guinea pigs in Trump’s herd immunity experiment.
Read More: Half of US adults have received at least one COVID-19 shot
“I think Americans had the right to opt-in or out in being used in that experiment,” he explained. “Hundreds of thousands died because of that experiment and millions contracted the disease.”
Thomas added, “He was basically trying this herd immunity concept, experiment, in hopes that prior to November, the elections in 2020, former President Trump he would enhance his chances if this natural herd immunity panned out.”
He went on to say that “many doctors” believe Trump’s approach was pretty much “murder.”
“The former president literally became the very domestic enemy to the Constitution he swore to defend,” Thomas wrote in the 29-page lawsuit. “It is alleged that former President Donald Trump handled and controlled COVID-19 through his coronavirus task force (with) such negligence that his management of the pandemic was criminal,” states the suit.
After he was imprisoned in 1980, Thomas said he “got into the library real deep,” and “learned the law.”
“This lawsuit was important and I wanted to be coherent. Donald Trump needs everything thrown at him that can be thrown at him,” Thomas said. He filed the suit pro se, meaning on behalf of himself without a lawyer, on Feb. 19. He has not contracted the virus but his lawsuit seeks to compensate plaintiffs who survived or succumbed and suffered financial losses due to COVID-19.
Read More: Trump officials gloated in emails about getting COVID reports altered: report
“Trump did not kill just one person on Fifth Avenue in New York City and got away with that murder, he is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people across the expanse of America,” Thomas alleges in his suit.
“Donald Trump is a living pariah, a true sociopath. I don’t think people understood the threat he poses,” Thomas told NJ Advance Media on Tuesday.
He is seeking damages of $1 trillion and federal legislation to ensure “another breach of this kind will never occur again.”
“In prison, certain people speak up and certain people don’t,” he said. “When I was in prison, it was left up to me to speak up. Same thing out here. I’m speaking up about things that matter.”
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s “Dear Culture” podcast? Download our newest episodes now!
TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire and Roku. Download theGrio.com today!