Man Accused of Aiming Laser at Trump Helicopter Acquitted in 35 Minutes

Wednesday, January 21, 2026

A man tried on a felony charge of aiming a laser at presidential helicopter Marine One while it was transporting Donald Trump was acquitted recently by a jury in Washington DC ...

Posted by Reinheitsgebot at 04:33 PM | 63 COMMENTS | permalink

A Washington man who was accused of aiming a laser pointer at Marine One, the presidential helicopter, as it was leaving the White House in September with President Trump aboard, was acquitted on Tuesday, according to court documents. nyti.ms/4a7hlQT

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-- The New York Times (@nytimes.com) Jan 19, 2026 at 11:05 AM

Comments

i.ytimg.com

#1 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2026-01-21 06:39 AM

We all know where this is going. At some point, a frustrated Trump/MAGA will question why we need juries.

#2 | Posted by Zed at 2026-01-21 08:12 AM

At some point, a frustrated Trump/MAGA will question why we need juries.

Yup.

#3 | Posted by jpw at 2026-01-21 11:25 AM

Trump/MAGA will question why we need juries.

They could try appointing qualified prosecutors. But then all the qualified prosecutors wouldn't take on cases they couldn't win just to preserve Trump's fragile ego, so they all got qualifired.

#4 | Posted by horstngraben at 2026-01-21 04:46 PM

35 minutes? Jeanine Pirro can drink a box of wine in 32 minutes, so that proves something ...

#5 | Posted by catdog at 2026-01-21 04:47 PM

So-called AUSA Lindsey Robyn Michelle Halligan, a comely young lass, was shown the door by federal judges (and possibly with prejudice, to boot).

Running a police state with incompetent prosecutors shows how amateurish, yet dangerous, our fascist-led country has become.

#6 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2026-01-21 04:53 PM

Pirro is incompetent. And drunk.

#7 | Posted by Alexandrite at 2026-01-21 05:02 PM

Me too! Kampei!

#8 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2026-01-21 05:41 PM

" Pirro is incompetent. And drunk."

They say you can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich.

Clearly, the grand jury draws the line when it's baloney.

#9 | Posted by Danforth at 2026-01-21 06:28 PM

"Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty."

Hannah Arendt

#10 | Posted by SomebodyElse at 2026-01-21 06:34 PM

All it takes is one Democrat with TDS. Never mind the potential damage to the pilot's eyes or collateral damage from a crash. The man confessed and there was a witness.

#11 | Posted by visitor_ at 2026-01-21 07:12 PM

#12 Trump Devoted Sycophant

#12 | Posted by A_Friend at 2026-01-21 07:29 PM

#11 It isn't Democrats that are Trump Devoted Sycophants.

That would be your ilk.

You're welcome.

#13 | Posted by A_Friend at 2026-01-21 07:32 PM

#11 I was just informed that they think you mean Trump Derangement Syndrome.

I think we're all in 100% agreement that Trump is deranged.

Good call.

#14 | Posted by A_Friend at 2026-01-21 07:46 PM

Trump Dementia - Syphilis (?)

#15 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2026-01-21 08:46 PM

#15 That works, Legally. :-)

#16 | Posted by A_Friend at 2026-01-21 08:48 PM

Wonder what the tax payer tab for this horse manure was...

#17 | Posted by Angrydad at 2026-01-21 08:59 PM

#17 Wonder what the tax payer tab for this horse manure was...

Now that Democrats know they can attempt blind pilots and face no consequence it might be pretty high. How much are a pilot's eyes worth, or what's the cost of a plane crash?

At least the Democrat jury was able to send a message that Trump's life doesn't matter.

#18 | Posted by visitor_ at 2026-01-21 09:14 PM

a homeless man with nothing but a cat toy keychain

If that deadly combo can bring down Marine One there are bigger issues to contend with.

www.amazon.ca

#19 | Posted by REDIAL at 2026-01-21 09:26 PM

Let me shine that into your eyes while you try to fly a helicopter. There's a reason it's illegal.

#20 | Posted by visitor_ at 2026-01-21 09:35 PM

Pirro is so ------ at her job she can't even get this slam dunk.

#21 | Posted by Alexandrite at 2026-01-21 09:39 PM

Yeah I agree with #21. How do you not get this conviction?

Donald Trump must enjoy fingering her or something, there's no merit based explanation for why she has the job.

#22 | Posted by snoofy at 2026-01-21 09:41 PM

Now that law doesn't matter these are ones that Soros will hand out at the next antifa meeting: biglasers.com

#23 | Posted by visitor_ at 2026-01-21 09:42 PM

LOL SOROS!

*drink*

Pirro is just a moron, dude. Soros has nothing to do with it.

#24 | Posted by Alexandrite at 2026-01-21 09:44 PM

"Now that law doesn't matter"

You mean ICE detaining people without any probable cause?

#25 | Posted by snoofy at 2026-01-21 09:48 PM

Pirro, like Hegseth, was a fox news bobblehead.

#26 | Posted by Alexandrite at 2026-01-21 09:49 PM

getting a paycheck is probable cause.

#27 | Posted by Alexandrite at 2026-01-21 09:50 PM

Let me shine that into your eyes while you try to fly a helicopter.

Zero chance I would even notice it.

#28 | Posted by REDIAL at 2026-01-21 09:54 PM

Let me shine that into your eyes while you try to fly a helicopter.

That's your speculation unsupported by the probable cause affidavit. The affidavit does not say where it was pointed. The closest it comes is the helicopter "... flew at a relatively low height and directly above Officer Santiago and D1's location ... ."

A reasonable inference is that it was pointed at the bottom of the helicopter. As a lawyer, that's what I would argue. It's likely the jury thought the same thing. No harm no foul.

There's a reason it's illegal.

Agreed. Including this prosecution though I think it's thin. The difference between us is that I, not having a dog in the hunt, applaud the system. You on the other hand deride the system, "... all it takes is one Democrat ... ," because it did not provide your preferred result.

#29 | Posted by et_al at 2026-01-21 11:08 PM

This is the law. www.law.cornell.edu It doesn't have an inference exemption.

#30 | Posted by visitor_ at 2026-01-22 01:32 AM

Visitor_

You seem to be doing a better job of making the case than Trump's hand-picked attorney.

Doesn't that make you question, like, all of the reasons you think Trump is a good leader?

#31 | Posted by snoofy at 2026-01-22 01:44 AM

What a glorious time to be a Public Defender in Washington DC. Acquittal Central since the MAGAts took over.

#32 | Posted by moder8 at 2026-01-22 01:45 AM

What a glorious time to be a Public Defender in Washington DC. Acquittal Central since the MAGAts took over.

#32 | Posted by moder8 at 2026-01-22 01:45 AM | Reply | Flag

Public defenders (like NYS AG Letitia James when she started her career) were the hardest working attorneys I ever came across.

If a defendant was facing capital charges, better to have one of them as defense counsel than a slick $1,000 per hour shyster.

The Legal Aid Society lawyers would go up the gallows with their clients.

#33 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2026-01-22 02:37 AM

Public defenders (like NYS AG Letitia James when she started her career) were the hardest working attorneys I ever came across.
If a defendant was facing capital charges, better to have one of them as defense counsel than a slick $1,000 per hour shyster.
The Legal Aid Society lawyers would go up the gallows with their clients.

#33 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS

The problem is they don't have the resources or time to properly defend these cases.

And some are better than others.

The real issue is that you can't get a public defender if you literally have any amount of money.

#34 | Posted by Sycophant at 2026-01-22 02:50 AM

Good point about the public defenders and scarce resources.

In EDNY, if drug mules from Colombia were caught on the same flight landing at JFK or a gang of low-income robbers were arrested, only one of them could get assigned a federal public defender. The Court Clerk would then assign a contracted defense counsel for the rest of the culprits in the gang.

One of these contracted attorneys made a small fortune for himself doing this. But this lawyer was cheap and sloppy. He would use the same documents to defend each of his clients "cookie-cutter style" but he would forget to "cut and paste" the correct names at times. I would read Document A from him about client A, but the name for Client C would appear somewhere in the paperwork.

This type of sloppy defense is not in the best interest of the defendant and everybody saw it.

#35 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2026-01-22 03:44 AM

Never mind the potential damage to the pilot's eyes or collateral damage

Now do the damage ICE is doing to America.

#36 | Posted by Nixon at 2026-01-22 08:15 AM

Watching Visitor Whine is So satisfying.

I Love Owning Me Some MAGA.

Maybe the Jury did too?

Trump could meet his match if he goes Full Nazi by simple Jury Nullification.

Americans Hate Dictatorship. It's our One Truly Exceptional Quality.

Trial by Jury may Save this Country.

Trump is Cruzin' for a Bruzin'.

I hope other major Jury cases go the same way.

#37 | Posted by Effeteposer at 2026-01-22 08:51 AM

for Lfthndthrds-

Lydia O'Connor
12 hrs 57 mins ago
Lydia O'Connor

El Paso ICE Detainee's Death Was A Homicide, Autopsy Finds
The El Paso County Office of the Medical Examiner determined Wednesday that the Jan. 3 death of a detainee at a Texas immigration detention facility was a homicide.

Geraldo Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old Cuban man, died from "asphyxia due to neck and torso compression," Adam C. Gonzalez, the county's deputy medical examiner, said in his report. "The manner of death is homicide."

The government confirmed earlier that Campos died during an interaction with guards after he was placed in solitary confinement. In a statement, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin claimed guards were trying to help Campos as he "tried to take his own life" and that he simply "stopped breathing and lost consciousness" during the struggle.

#38 | Posted by Alexandrite at 2026-01-22 09:22 AM

All it takes is one Democrat with TDS. Never mind the potential damage to the pilot's eyes or collateral damage from a crash. The man confessed and there was a witness.

#11 | Posted by visitor_

One juror with TDS made the deliberation only take 35 minutes to come to not guilty? Me thinks you're full of it because you need a unanimous jury to acquit.

So instead of admitting your utopia administration is full of incompetent turds and idiots, you concoct absurd, fact-free rationales of how it must be ThE DemOcRtAZ! doing it, even dragging Soros in like a good little programmed idiot.

#39 | Posted by jpw at 2026-01-22 11:17 AM

Given this outcome, how you can you reasonably complain about Good's good shooting?

#40 | Posted by visitor_ at 2026-01-22 11:58 AM

Given this outcome, how you can you reasonably complain about Good's good shooting?
#40 | Posted by visitor_

Because this event has nothing to do with that event.
What makes you think the two are related?

Do you even realize you are in the "Bargaining" Stage of the Kubler-Ross model of acceptance?
I bet you don't.

#41 | Posted by snoofy at 2026-01-22 12:08 PM

Given this outcome, how you can you reasonably complain about Good's good shooting?

#40 | POSTED BY VISITOR_

#42 | Posted by Zed at 2026-01-22 12:17 PM

Given this outcome, how you can you reasonably complain about Good's good shooting?

#40 | Posted by visitor_

"This laser proves the 2020 election was stolen and that trump never ------ stormy daniels!"
-you

#43 | Posted by SpeakSoftly at 2026-01-22 12:49 PM

Given this outcome, how you can you reasonably complain about Good's good shooting?

#40 | Posted by visitor_

Cool non sequitur.

I can complain about the shooting because I have eyes and I watched all the recorded material. Couple that with the immediate government response of over-the-top lying and hyperbole (domestic terrorist...pffft GTFOOH) I knew it was BS.

I have no details about this case but know that even in this charged environment, a unanimous jury found him not guilty after only 35 minutes.

#44 | Posted by jpw at 2026-01-22 12:54 PM

Bondi is pissed that she can't go after Don Lemon anymore.

Thank god American fascists are stupid and incompetent.

#45 | Posted by Alexandrite at 2026-01-22 02:16 PM

DC.....expected it sooner...from people raising hell because now they can

walk the street at night and not be crippled / beaten / shot at and robbed.

--IE...people as stupid as DR dwelling mental lizards.

people desperate to see trump laying dead.

#46 | Posted by shrimptacodan at 2026-01-22 02:29 PM

Bondi is pissed that she can't go after Don Lemon anymore.

Thank god American fascists are stupid and incompetent.

#45 | Posted by Alexandrite

maybe she can't....maybe she can....FACE ACT......signed in 1994 by bill clinton,

" don lemon is the dingle berry hanging from the ass of journalism"

---James Woods.

#47 | Posted by shrimptacodan at 2026-01-22 02:32 PM

What is shrimpd*&^ babbling about?

#48 | Posted by jpw at 2026-01-22 02:32 PM

"JPW is a dingle berry hanging from the ass of.....virtually everyone."

BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

maybe alexandyke can wipe your ass for you.

#49 | Posted by shrimptacodan at 2026-01-22 02:34 PM

Plonked.

#50 | Posted by Alexandrite at 2026-01-22 02:34 PM

What is shrimpd*&^ babbling about?

#48 | Posted by jpw a

something you're too f/g stupid to understand.

#51 | Posted by shrimptacodan at 2026-01-22 02:35 PM

Is James Woods still crying on TV about his house that wasn't actually burned down?

#52 | Posted by Alexandrite at 2026-01-22 02:35 PM

Plonked.

#50 | Posted by Alexandrite at

chicken manure 'kitty' coward....call me anything and I turn the other cheek

and I"m a 100 times more the better person than you are...

..maybe when you grow the F up....you'll

be less of a 2 faced coward.

#53 | Posted by shrimptacodan at 2026-01-22 02:38 PM

and I"m a 100 times more the better person than you are...

#53 | Posted by shrimptacodan

When bragging about your superiority I'd check your sentence structure first.

#54 | Posted by SpeakSoftly at 2026-01-22 02:46 PM

and I"m a 100 times more the better person than you are...
#53 | Posted by shrimptacodan

Okay "Alexandyke". LOL

#55 | Posted by Alexandrite at 2026-01-22 02:47 PM

something you're too f/g stupid to understand.

#51 | Posted by shrimptacodan

You're quoting that pathetic has been sack of s*&^ James Woods.

It can't, by definition, be something hard to understand.

#56 | Posted by jpw at 2026-01-22 03:47 PM

MAGA James Woods slams Dummkopf Trumpf: www.yahoo.com

#57 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2026-01-22 03:52 PM

Please don't quote ShempTaco. Many of us have plonked him and have no desire to ever hear from his hateful ignorant arse again.

Just use his post number.

Thanks!

#58 | Posted by donnerboy at 2026-01-22 04:05 PM

Big man, but so easily triggered. Is your fainting couch at the cleaners?

#59 | Posted by visitor_ at 2026-01-22 06:49 PM

Big man, but so easily triggered. Is your fainting couch at the cleaners?

#59 | Posted by visitor_ at 2026-01-22 06:49 PM | Reply | Flag

You're the ------- crying about Soros instead of blaming suck ass Pirro. She's a moron.

#60 | Posted by Alexandrite at 2026-01-22 06:59 PM

Given this outcome, how you can you reasonably complain about Good's good shooting?
#40 | Posted by visitor_

So you're saying since this trial didn't go your way, why even have a trial for Good's shooting.

The system didn't deliver the results you wanted. So now you want to tear down the system.

This is what you and the Trumpers have in common:
You think you got screwed, and you think you deserve reparations.

#61 | Posted by snoofy at 2026-01-22 07:12 PM

From the sub-summary ...

... A Washington man who was accused of aiming a laser pointer at Marine One, the presidential helicopter, ,,,

OK, I'm going to say, any person aiming a laser pointer at an aircraftshould be appropriately prosecuted.

Laser Safety
www.faa.gov

... Laser pointers may seem like a toy, office tool, or game. Pointed to the sky, lasers are a serious threat. A laser can incapacitate pilots, putting thousands of passengers at risk every year. Pilots reported 12,840 laser strikes to the FAA in 2024.

Pointing a laser at an aircraft is a federal crime. U.S. law enforcement agencies and the Federal Aviation Administration may seek criminal and civil prosecution against violators.

People who shine lasers at aircraft face FAA fines of up to $32,646 per violation. The FAA issued $120,000 in fines for laser strikes in 2021. ...

#62 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-01-22 07:34 PM

I think we're all in 100% agreement that Trump is deranged.

Has Jake Tapper started clutching his pearls yet?

#63 | Posted by Nixon at 2026-01-23 11:51 AM

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