Donald Trump Jr. said on Friday that he was "sick" over a raid at a Pennsylvania Amish farm for issues relating to products that stemmed from the farm and resulted in food-borne illnesses.
"Imagine what law enforcement could accomplish if they went after oh I don't know, say, members of elite pedophile rings rather than farmers selling to their neighbors???" Trump Jr. wrote in a post to X, formerly Twitter, responding to a video of a raid at Amos Miller's farm in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. "Can I be the only person sick of this s***?"
On Thursday, the Lancaster Patriot first reported a raid led by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and Pennsylvania State Troopers at the farm, with videos showing officials entering the farm and removing some property.
"The warrant sought, among other things, illegal raw milk and raw milk products, including eggnog," a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture told Newsweek. "The search was part of an active investigation into two food-borne illness cases in which persons reported consuming food products from Miller's Organic Farm."
"According to the affidavit in support of the warrant, the Department was informed on December 19, 2023 by the New York State Department of Health that they had confirmed a case of a foodborne pathogen (STEC - Shiga toxin producing E.Coli) in an underage individual who was found to have consumed ground beef and "raw" eggnog. According to the affidavit, both products were tested and the "raw" eggnog—which was reported to be from Miller's Organic Farm—was positive for STEC," the spokesperson told Newsweek.
According to the spokesperson, a similar incident occurred in Michigan, where the state's Department of Agriculture received a report of an underage individual who tested positive for STEC and previously confirmed that they had purchased products "including raw milk, and other milk, eggs, cheese, and meat," from Miller's farm.
"Miller has never licensed his retail operation," the spokesperson told Newsweek.
In addition to Trump Jr., Kentucky Republican Representative Thomas Massie weighed in on the raid, saying, "Looks like Amos Miller's farm is being raided. With all of the problems in society today, this is what the government wants to focus on?"
"A man growing food for informed customers, without participating in the industrial meat/milk complex? It's shameful that it's come to this," Massie wrote.
In a statement to the Lancaster Patriot, Miller's attorney, Robert Barnes, also confirmed the raid and said that officials removed "everything" that was in the farm's freezer.
"They did so in a lawless manner, without appropriate authority, in violation of their own rules and regulations, despite never objecting to the prior resolutions reached with the federal government, and despite a complete failure by the state to even reach out to Amos' known counsel, Robert Barnes," the statement said.
"Instead, the state unlawfully obtained a search warrant, based on materially false statements in an affidavit by a high-ranking state official in an agency with a known grievance against independent farmers like Amos, and, after the raid and finding no evidence of wrongdoing, then illegally ordered detained every item of food in one of Amos Miller's coolers, including buffalo meat not even subject to federal regulation."
Newsweek reached out to Barnes via email for comment.
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Matthew Impelli is a Newsweek staff writer based in New York. His focus is reporting social issues and crime. In ... Read more
